KNOCKANURE
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As Christians, we know Christ is our eternal High Priest, whose sacrifice on the Cross offers forgiveness for all sins (Hebrews 9:11-14).
The rituals of atonement and confession that Catholics practice—confessing sins, receiving absolution, and performing penance—have deep roots in ancient Jewish customs.
Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, plays a significant role in this heritage.
On Yom Kippur, Jews reflect on their sins and seek forgiveness, much like we do in our Catholic tradition. This year, Yom Kippur is observed from the evening of Friday, October 11, until nightfall on Saturday, October 12.
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The U.S. Navy has put in an order for General Dynamics to produce 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines by 2042 — a job that’s projected to cost $130 billion. The industry is struggling to find the tens of thousands of new workers it needs. For the past 18 months, the company has traveled to elementary schools across New England to educate children in the basics of submarine manufacturing and perhaps inspire a student or two to consider one day joining its shipyards.
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The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary: 7th October
The tradition of blessing roses on this day is an old one. It is recorded in the Annals of the Rosary that many favours have been obtained, both spiritual and temporal, through the virtue of these blessed roses. We are told that thousands of sick persons have been cured by using them devoutly.
This feast was established by Pope Saint Pius V to commemorate the victory of the Christian naval fleet of the Holy League, which contained the Papal States, against the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto off the coast of Turkey on 7th October 1571. The Christian fleet was commanded by Don Juan of Austria. The Christian victory in that sea battle was a hugely significant one for the future of Christianity in Europe, in that if the Christians had lost that battle, much of Europe would probably be Muslim today. Saint Pius V, who was a Dominican and Pope from 1566 until 1572, credited Our Lady with the victory since on the eve of the battle he had recited the Rosary as he led a Rosary Procession, praying for success the following day. The Rosary was revealed to Saint Dominic (1170 – 1221) by the Blessed Mother about the beginning of the thirteenth century and is one of the most beautiful of all devotions. After the victory Pope Saint Pius V declared that “The Feast of Our Lady of Victory” would be celebrated on 7th October the following year (1572). He himself died earlier that year on 1st May 1572. His successor, Pope Gregory XIII, changed the title of the feast to “The Feast of the Holy Rosary”. In 1960 Saint Pope John XXIII changed the title to “The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary”. The feast is a celebration of the great prayer which the Rosary is, as we meditate on key events or moments in the lives of Jesus and his mother Mary.
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People often use the term “spitting image” to talk about how similar things or people are. Actually, the correct term is “spirit & image” which, when you think about it makes more sense. It may not be physically possible for many of us to resemble Jesus, but we can show him to the world in our words and deeds. And what is the best way to do that? To be as like him as we possibly can – in spirit if not in image.
FR. GERARD’S CORNER
HARVEST PRAYER
God of life and love, we offer you our thanks and praise in this season
of Harvest. We thank you that you are our Creator and Provider,
the source of all goodness. We thank you for the sunshine and the rain,
for the land and the soil. We thank you for the miracle of fertility and growth, for the rhythm of nature and life.
We thank you for crops and livestock, farmers and growers. We thank you for our calling to be co-creators with you and we pray especially for all who share with you In the task of growing and supplying the food we eat. God of life and love, we offer you our thanks and praise.
LAST WORD: When you start compromising yourself or your morals for
the people around you, it’s probably time to change the people around you.
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NOTE FROM FR. JIM. Lenihan ....
Cassius Clay, later to change his name to Muhammad Ali, as a young boxer with
incredible talent, was interviewed on television and was asked a question. When he
answered it, the audience didn’t understand his reply. The presenter asked what
was the secret of his success. Was it running or sparring or continuous practising?
He said no, it was dodging the nightclubs, staying away from parties and the girls,
and being in bed by myself by 9 o clock every night. Even though the audience
laughed, he wasn’t joking. The great successful people in the world would say that
they were successful because they said no to almost everything, they couldn’t be
distracted from what was most important in their life. In the world of today we
want happiness and contentment and we believe we can get this from freedom but
the problem is we have a false understanding of freedom. We say today do
whatever you feel like. Freedom is having no limits, no commandments, and no laws.
It’s called moral licensing. Sometimes, we see laws and commandments as
something that hinders us and prevents us from finding happiness. But as we
discuss in our 3rd session of the Metanoia program called ‘Life and death’ (details
on Glenflesk Parish Facebook page) that true life and true freedom can only come
from living a fully disciplined life and by fully embracing Christ and his ways. As
Pope John Paul II puts it, ‘True Freedom is not doing what we want but rather
doing what we aught’. The line of scripture we focus on comes from the 9th.
Chapter of Luke when Jesus said ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must
deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his
life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is
there for one to gain the whole world yet lose and forfeit himself’. Jesus said ‘if
you want to follow me!!’ It’s totally our choice. This is very important and
something we must stop and reflect on. It is the million dollar question: Are we
willing to risk our eternal salvation for something or someone in this world? Are
these passing things so important that we’re willing to give up eternal life for. If
all the successful sports stars sacrificed so much for a passing crown of glory.
Surely, the eternal crown of glory that God wants for each of us is far more
important.
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Pope Francis’ Daily Prayer to Saint Joseph
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage
and defend us from every evil. Amen.
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PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
Priest: Let us bring our prayers before the Lord trusting not in our gown good works, but
in his mercy.
1. For the Church throughout the world, especially where her members suffer
persecution, that the Lord may watch over and protect them. Lord, hear us.
2. For migrants and refugees, that leaders and authorities may assist those in need and
nations and communities may welcome those fleeing from war or oppression.
Lord, hear us.
3. For farmers and those working on the land that they may do so in safety and rejoice in
a bountiful harvest. Lord, hear us.
4. For all gathered here: that we may have the humility and courage to seek forgiveness
of those we have offended. Lord, hear us.
5. For our loved ones who have died, that they may rest in the peace of God.
Lord, hear us.
5. For our own special needs. Lord, hear us.
Priest: Heavenly Father, in your great mercy hear our prayers and direct our hearts to
accept and do your will in imitation of your Son Our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen
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Hope would have us recognise that there is always a way out,
that there is always a way to re-direct our steps”. (Pope Francis)
As long as poverty, injustice and inequality exists in our world,
none of us can truly rest. (Nelson Mandela
“We are put on earth only a little while,
that we may learn to bear the beams of love”.
(William Blake).
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REFLECTION
“As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts,” says the Lord.
Lord, open our minds and enlarge our hearts,
so that we think more like you,
and act more like you.
Let us not to begrudge your goodness to others,
knowing that we too are underserving of your favours,
and stand more in need of your mercy than of your justice.
FINAL BLESSING
May you treat each other in the same friendly way Christ has treated you.
May you clothe yourselves in sincere compassion, kindness and patience.
May your love not be mere words but something real and active.
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“Anything enjoyable is either immoral, illegal, or fattening”.
(Mae West)
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The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
.As we approach an election we will be promised the sun, moon and stars by candidates looking for our votes. There is also a budget coming up and there is no doubt that a lot of money will be provided to curry favour with the public to maintain the status quo and keep the current coalition in power. This is not unique to ourselves, all democracies do it and, a lot of the time, it pays off. People in general are not overly worried about things that do not affect them financially. This is very evident in America where almost half the population will vote for Trump, despite the fact that he is a convicted criminal, womaniser, liar and can barely string a proper sentence together. They feel they will be financially better off under his policies. It is hard to expect people to vote for any policy that will end up making them poorer so the promises will be made. There is a lot right with our economy but we are still playing catch-up when it comes to housing, health and infrastructure. We saw lately where a planning application for a data centre was turned down because there wasn’t enough electricity available to power it. This would have brought lots of good jobs and more revenue for the government so the question has to be asked, what is wrong? There are lots of applications for wind and solar farms sitting in planning offices that will take years to get the green light. It is time to cut through the needless beaurocrasy and red tape. Why are we not using waves that we have in abundance off our coasts to create electricity like they do in Scandinavia? We could be selling power to the rest of Europe instead of turning away projects that would be great for our economy. Our roads are better than they used to be but we still have bottlenecks in towns that have not been bypassed. We need more and faster trains but they will also need to be powered by electricity as will all the busses and other public service vehicles. I was in Dublin lately and did a bit of driving in the city. It is a nightmare, barely crawling from lights to lights. Dublin should have had an underground rail system years ago. If I am visiting London or any other major capitol, I would not dream of driving because there are tubes and metros to take me anywhere I want to go in a fraction of the time it would take me to drive. Then we have the problem at Dublin Airport where, because of local planning restrictions, airlines who were going to create new routes will not now do so because of a cap in the number of passengers. This was introduced some years ago because it was feared there would be traffic congestion if the airport was allowed to expand. The roads around the airport have improved and are well able to cater for the extra activity but the prohibition stays in place and it will take a long time to fix it. In the meantime business and tourism will suffer. Our health service is cracking at the seams. There is something drastically wrong with peoples health. In days gone by the doctor was summoned if you were very ill indeed and if the “Croom car” was seen on the road people blessed themselves because it was feared someone was at death’s door. (The “Croom car” was our name for the ambulance then, Croom being the only hospital in the region.) Now, every doctor’s surgery is full every day and our hospitals are not able to cater for the numbers that require their services. This is not natural and it begs that question: what has changed? Is it the processed food we are eating, our lifestyle, or the amount of medicine we are all on. Some people are blaming the vaccines for what is happening but I suppose it is fair to say that many would die if we didn’t have them. The biggest mistake the government made was to get rid of the health boards and create the HSE. The closing of many smaller hospitals to create centres of excellence has backfired and we could really do with their services at the moment. Enough has been said and written about our housing crisis. I know that we are playing catch-up after financial crash and the pandemic but our approach to housing has been all wrong. People do not need mansions of houses, what the need are modest terraced houses that will provide a roof over their heads at an affordable rent or mortgage. I have to laugh when I hear of semi-detached houses at €400,000 being described as “affordable”. Affordable to who? There should also be an attempt to move away from Dublin and create business throughout the country. We are just a small island and with proper infrastructure, living in the country would be very desirable with much lower costs. Whatever party or parties form the next government, they will have their work cut out for them. There art no magic wands and there may have to be a little pain before we see improvements. What they must not do is try to please all the people all the time. It simply does not work. It is very easy to govern from the opposition benches but actually getting things done is not so easy when you get the reins. We can look forward to huge photos of smiling hopefuls beaming down on us from every pole along the road in the near future.
Isn’t life exciting!
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FR. GERARD’S CORNER
Playing our part in God’s kingdom.
There were once three young trees growing together in the forest. They were young, healthy and ambitious. They compared their dreams. One wanted to be part of the structure of a castle or palace, so it would be a spectator in the lives of the high and mighty of society. The second wanted to end up as the mast in one of the tall ships, sailing around the world with a great sense of adventure. The third hoped to end up as part of some public monument, where the public would stop, admire, and take photographs.
Years passed by, and all three were cut down. The first was chopped up, and parts of it were put together to form a manger for a stable in Bethlehem. The second was cut down, and the trunk was scooped out to form a boat, which was launched on the Sea of Galilee. The third was cut into sections, two of which were put together, to form a cross on Calvary. Each had a unique and special part to play in the one great story of redemption. Let us too play our part in God’s great act of building up His kingdom
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LAST WORD: “Secrets of Success” do not work unless you do!!
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Novena Prayer to St Therese
O Saint Therese of the Child Jesus,
who during your short life on earth became a mirror of angelic purity,
of love strong as death, and of wholehearted abandonment to God,
Make my troubles your own,
speak on my behalf to Our Lady Immaculate,
‘who smiled on you at the dawn of life’.
Beg her powerful intercession for the grace
I yearn for so ardently at this moment (here name your request)
and that she join with it a blessing that may strengthen me during life,
defend me at the hour of death, and lead me to a happy eternity. Amen
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Sean Sheehy August 2024
Are You Living Wisely or Foolishly?
Wisdom is the quality of knowing how to make good judgments. A good judgment is a decision or choice where you gain much more than you lose, especially in the long term. Gaining or losing must be measured by what brings us closer to God or moves us farther away from Him. Biblical wisdom is the proper ordering of one’s life in accord with the rules of Faith in God. The long-term gain is eternal happiness. Foolishness is the living of one’s life in accord with the rules of the world. The long-term gain is eternal misery.
The Holy Spirit warns us: “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord … Giving thanks always and for everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Eph 5:15-20). God spoke to His people about the importance of wisdom: “To the one who lacks understanding, she (Wisdom) says, ‘Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding’” (Prov 9:1-6). Knowledge and understanding of the truth, Jesus Christ, is intellectual and spiritual food and drink.
I think that everyone would prefer to be wise rather than foolish, making the most of every opportunity to make good decisions. No one deliberately makes decisions they think are bad for them. What makes the difference is how we define “good” versus “bad.” These are evil days in the Church and in the world that confuse people as to what’s good or bad, wise or foolish, right or wrong, just or unjust. Nowadays people view truth, morality, as relative to them. That makes them their own god telling them that they are deciders of what constitutes good or evil. Satan loves this state of affairs because it gives him the opportunity to tempt people to think that there is no objective good – no one God who is all good and the Determiner of what is good or bad, right or wrong, true or false, wise or foolish. The Psalmist (34:2-7), guided by God’s Spirit, knew that there is only one God who is all good and the source of wisdom. He shared his experience of the One, True God: “I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears…When the poor man called out, the Lord heard, from all his distress He saved him.” A lack of understanding of the truth always leads to making foolish decisions, which in turn lead to fears and distress. Wise decisions, on the other hand, lead to confidence and peace.
We see how this lack of understanding led to unwise decisions when Jesus revealed to His listeners (Jn 6:51-58): “I am the bread of life that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Instead of asking Him how He would make that possible, they decided that because they knew Him and His family and where He lived that He was just like them so they concluded that He wasn’t making sense. Because they viewed him as like themselves, they said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So they decided to leave His company and walked away from the only One who could give them a life of eternal happiness. They made a foolish decision because they decided what Jesus couldn’t do rather than trusting in Him that He could do what He said. They were stupid. How did Jesus respond to them? He doubled down on what He already said, warning them: “I say to you, unless you each the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you…my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will have life because of me … Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Their lack of understanding and unwillingness to order their lives according to what Jesus was teaching led them to live foolishly rather than wisely. The same is true for you and me. To whom or what do we look or rely upon to decide what is wise and what is foolish? Is it Jesus or is it the world?
Those people knew Jesus and saw Him performing all kinds of miracles but they didn’t bother to try and understand who He really was, what He came to do, and how He was going to accomplish what He said. The inspired words of St. Paul warns us: “Do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.” It is the will of God the Father that we follow in the footsteps of His Son, Jesus Christ, if we want to enter Heaven. Jesus Himself revealed that, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (Jn 17:3). “Knowing” a person biblically is to have an intimate relationship with him or her. Therefore, to “know” God and Jesus Christ is to have a personal relationship with them. This personal, intimate, relationship finds its highest and holiest expression in the Holy Mass where Jesus, through the ordained priest conformed to Him, changes bread and wine into His flesh and blood to be consumed by the Baptized faithful. Therein God the Father and His people as individuals and as a community enter into a Holy Communion with one another initiated by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just as in the days of Jesus Himself, many today walk away from the Holy Mass or try to reduce it to a symbol, thereby acting in ignorance and depriving themselves of the life Jesus wants to give them in and through the Holy Eucharist. The Catholic Church makes attendance at Sunday Mass obligatory because every Holy Mass is about “giving thanks always and for everything in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Eph 5:20). In justice we owe that to God. We owe God all our thanks especially for the opportunity to live in Jesus and to have Him live, both physically and spiritually, in us through His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist which is the only way the faithful can receive the gift of Himself as “the Bread of Life”. This act reflects a person’s true understanding of Jesus, present in His Church, and how He gives us the gift of His life that transcends death. Thus a person lives wisely and not foolishly. (fr sean)
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Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
4th August 2024
Dear Friends of Sacred Heart Church,
Today marks the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, the first Sunday of the month of August, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Here is a question for you! Which part of the readings resonates most deeply with you? While the Gospel is often seen as the highlight, it is essential not to overlook other parts of the readings such as the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion antiphon, as well as the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion. Each of these elements enriches our prayer life and offers rich spiritual nourishment.
Introit and Prayers at the Foot of the Altar
A common question arises regarding the appropriate posture during the prayers at the foot of the altar. Here is some guidance:
- At a Low Mass: Congregants should kneel, uniting with the priest’s prayers as a preparation for Mass.
- At a High Mass: Congregants should stand, aligning more closely with the words of the Introit being sung.
In other words, do not kneel down during the prayers at the foot of the altar during a High Mass but stand, following the clergy’s posture. This will enhance our unity in the sacred liturgy.
Upcoming Feast Days
Monday 5th August: We celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, honouring our Blessed Mother. It refers to a Marian feast day that commemorates the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
According to tradition, the basilica was founded in the 4th century by Pope Liberius following a miraculous snowfall in August. The story goes that the Virgin Mary appeared separately in a vision to Pope Liberius and a wealthy Roman couple, John and his wife, who wished to dedicate their wealth to a church in her honour.
Our Lady instructed each party to build a church where snow would fall that night. The following morning, August 5th, the Esquiline Hill was covered in snow, and Pope Liberius marked the outline of the basilica on the snow-covered ground.
The basilica was subsequently built on that site, and it became known as St. Mary Major.
Tuesday 6th August: The Feast of the Transfiguration.
We will remember this miracle when Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed His divine glory on Mount Tabor to three of His disciples: Peter, James, and John. Jesus’ appearance became radiant, and His clothes turned dazzling white.
Moses and Elijah appeared alongside Him, representing the Law and the Prophets, respectively, highlighting Jesus’ fulfilment of both.
A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud, identified as God the Father, said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”
Special Mass and Prayers for the Holy Souls
This Saturday, the 10th of the month, I will celebrate a Mass for the holy souls.
We will remember especially Mr Thomas, grand father of Alexis and Sister Alexia-Marie, who died in India. Please remember him in your prayers.
We will also have a special prayer intention for Father Frank O’Connor, a priest of the Diocese of Limerick, who entered eternal life last Thursday. As a former student of the Jesuits, the Sacred Heart Church was very dear to him. He congratulated the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest many times for taking on the responsibility of restoring this church to its former glory and for keeping it open. We remember the times he came to preach during the Sacred Heart Novena. When I invited him this year, he was sorry to be unable to come due to his illness. May God have mercy on his gentle priestly soul.
Your generous prayers for the poor souls, and especially the souls of priests, bishops and cardinals who may have no one to pray for them when they die, are invaluable throughout the year. The more we intercede for the souls of the faithful departed, the more they will pray for us in return.
Please remember the continuous and reciprocal exchange of prayers and intercessions between the living and the departed. By praying for the souls in Purgatory, not only do we assist them in reaching heaven, but it also builds a spiritual bond that promises ongoing support and intercession from those souls once they are in heaven.
If you wish to include a special prayer intention in this Mass, please send me a list at this address
Boys’ Summer Camp in Ardee
The Boys’ Summer Camp in Ardee was a great success, blessed with beautiful weather. On the final day, the boys performed a show for their parents, which was greatly appreciated by all.
Welcome to Canon de La Crochais
We have the pleasure of welcoming Canon de La Crochais, an Institute priest who is visiting Ireland with his family this week. I know you will extend a warm Irish welcome to him and his family members!
Farewell to Emanuele
Tomorrow, we bid farewell to Emanuele, who concludes his candidacy year with us at the Sacred Heart Church. We were delighted to have had him in our community. After a three-week vacation, he will proceed to the seminary in Italy. We will certainly hear from him from time to time.
Canon Henry will be returning to France this week for his summer break. He will return after the Annual Chapter meeting on August 30th.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary guide us through this month!
Canon Lebocq
Prior of Sacred Heart Church
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Sean Sheehy
7 August 2024
The Holy Eucharist: The Life-Giving Miracle
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray He included among the petitions, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mt 6:11). The importance of bread as food for the body is evident in every civilization. Bread is one of our most basic foods. Even fasting doesn’t forbid the eating of bread. It’s considered essential for sustaining the body’s energy. It’s even used as a slang term for the money necessary to provide for our needs. Money is also referred to as “dough,” necessary for baking into bread. When we’re hungry we look forward to a slice of bread to calm a growling stomach. Without bread we’re dead.
In the Old Testament we read about the prophet Elijah escaping from Jezebel’s vow to kill him. Tiring, he sat under a broom tree and cried, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kgs 19:4). In his exhaustion, he fell asleep under the tree. An angel woke him up and found that, “at his head a hearth cake and a jug of water” (19:6). After eating, Elijah went back to sleep. Again, “The angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him and ordered, ‘Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!’” (19:7). Elijah obeyed, and strengthened by the bread, walked for forty days and nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. God provided him with bread to restore his energy. In a similar way the bread we eat to strengthen our body as we journey through this world to where God wants us to be is a gift from Him. Every good thing comes from God. Our Faith must be that of the Psalmist: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears… Taste and see the goodness of the Lord; blessed the man who takes refuge in Him” (Ps 34:2-9).
Just as our body needs bread, so also does our soul. We can bake bread to nourish our body, but where do we get bread for our soul? Again it has to come from God, since only He can nourish our soul since He created it. How does He provide the necessary nourishment? He does so in the Person of Jesus Christ who identified Himself as “the bread of life that came down from Heaven” (Jn 6:41). Many of those who heard Him reacted with disbelief and no longer followed Him. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? … How can He claim to have come down from Heaven?” (Jn 6:42). Jesus didn’t say, “I’m just speaking symbolically or figuratively and I don’t want you to take me literally.” Instead He reinforced His declaration by saying, “I myself am the living bread come down from Heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world… Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:51, 54). Jesus revealed that without eating His body and drinking His blood we are lifeless, dead.
Jesus revealed how He was going to make this possible at the Last Supper when He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and said, “Take this and eat of it, this is my body” (Mt 26:26). He did the same with the cup of wine, declaring, “this is the cup of my blood … take and drink…” Here Jesus changed bread into His body thereby making Himself the “Bread of Life.” Thus He made it possible for all believers to, “Taste and see how good the Lord is; blessed the man who takes refuge in Him” (Ps 34:9). To make it possible for all generations to taste Him, Jesus ordained His Apostles to, “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19). Jesus’ Church, in the person of her ordained bishops and priests, has been doing this since her birth at Pentecost in the Holy Mass until the end of time. Thus Jesus continues, through the ordained successors of His Apostles, to miraculously give us the gift of His body, blood, soul, and divinity to fill our soul with His life. Do you believe in this miracle? Do you taste and see the goodness of the Lord when Jesus miraculously gives Himself to you in Holy Communion?
This miracle takes place at every Holy Mass. Every Holy Mass is a miraculous encounter with Jesus sacrificing Himself in order to give life to our soul. We can see it only with the eyes of supernatural Faith? When Jesus encountered His listeners’ disbelief about accepting Him as the “bread of life come down from Heaven,” He reminded them that they were rejecting the Holy Spirit and weren’t acting as God’s children. He told them: “Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to me” (Jn 6:45). St. Paul warns us, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30). To hear God the Father and believe fully in Jesus as the “bread of life” it’s necessary to let the Holy Spirit enlighten our spirit. Remember that, “No one can say: ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 12:3). That’s the basis for supernatural Faith, a divine virtue and a gift from God. Many who identify as Catholic reject Jesus as the bread of life when they refuse to attend the Holy Mass and, as a result, deprive their soul of the eternal life for which it yearns. St. Paul urges us to, “Be imitators of God, as His beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed Himself over for us as a sacrificial offering for God for a fragrant aroma” (Eph 5:2). This is the life-giving miracle Jesus performs every time we celebrate Holy Mass. In receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, we receive the “Bread of Life.” Jesus is the Life-Giver who miraculously gives Himself to us and who empowers us to imitate God by being “kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” (Eph 4:32). The bread for our body won’t prevent it from dying. But the Bread for our soul, namely Jesus, will ensure it lives happily forever. The celebration of the Holy Mass is the visible witness of Jesus’ life-giving miracle enlivening our souls making us into a Holy Community as members of His Church. Do you realize this is a fact? (fr sean)
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By Jamie Ducharme
July 31, 2024 4:15 PM EDT
More than 10 million people around the world develop dementia each year. And many people assume there’s nothing they can do to avoid that fate—that dementia is “one of these things that just happens,” says Gill Livingston, a professor in the department of brain sciences at University College London.
But a new report published in The Lancet says otherwise. Nearly half of dementia cases could, in fact, be prevented or delayed if people adopted certain habits, according to the report, which was written by a group of almost 30 experts convened by the Lancet and based on an analysis of hundreds of studies.
https://time.com/7005862/how-to-prevent-dementia-cognitive-decline/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
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Beach Vacationers Are Doing It Wrong. Psychiatrist Richard Friedman makes the case that vacations where you do a lot of lying and idling around may “work against the very things a trip is meant to cultivate: a mental reset, a sense of relaxation, happiness.” He argues that what most of us really need a break from is the anxiety-creating “tyranny of self-absorption,” that leisurely vacations only enhance this preoccupation with our thoughts, and that it would be better to take active vacations full of the kind of physical exertion that creates endorphins, absorbs your focus, and takes you out of yourself. As someone who dislikes the beach (especially sitting on the beach), and just got back from spending a couple days in Colorado hiking, biking, and fishing, I endorse this message.
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By Nicolás de Cárdenas
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:45 pm
The motto of the modern Olympic Games, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” was coined by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon, who became friends with the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, five years before the 1896 Athens Games.
The motto, originally formulated in Latin as “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” was used before the modern Olympic movement at St. Albert the Great School in Paris, where the Dominican friar was the principal.
====================
In the US, floating treatment wetland systems have been steadily increasing over the past few years, driven both by companies scaling up production of proprietary, non-trash-based platforms, and cities taking note of others’ successes. Urban waterways like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Boston’s Charles River, and the Chicago River have all successfully deployed FTWS to clean their waters.
When Pradhanang wanted to try the systems on polluted water bodies in Nepal, she saw a barrier: They’re too expensive
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Peat
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/UMnxFU1PLcCF4iSH/
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This year’s #KerryMHWFest will run from Saturday 5th to Saturday 12th October and is held annually to highlight World Mental Health Day on 10th October.
======================
THE National Parks and Wildlife Service invites expressions of interest for the first annual ‘Muckross 60 Scholars’. Two annual scholarships of up to €8,000 are on offer.
The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 31 August 2024. Expressions of interest should be emailed to Catriona.ryan@npws.gov.ie
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Jul 1, 2024
AbbeyleixEmbrace FarmRemembrance Service
On Sunday, June 30, Embrace FARM held its Annual Ecumenical Remembrance Service, inviting farm families to remember loved ones lost within their community.
Over the past decade, this service has become an important event, honouring those who have died suddenly and providing comfort for their families. https://embracefarm.com/?v=a685be4af122
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/211603589/posts/240494
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Weekly Newsletter
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
21st July 2024
Dear Friends of Sacred Heart Church,
On this Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, we witness in today’s gospel a poignant moment as Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and saw the city; He wept over it.
Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem was not merely a geographical movement but a profound act of divine love. As He approached the city, His heart was moved with compassion. He wept, not for Himself, but for the people of Jerusalem.
The sorrow of Jesus is magnified by the tragedy of Jerusalem’s blindness. Despite the prophecies, the signs, and His very presence among them, many did not recognise the time of God’s visitation.
Their hearts were hardened, their eyes were closed to the light of the world. This blindness led to the eventual destruction of the city, a destruction that Jesus foresaw and lamented. In this, we see a reflection of our own times, a call to remain vigilant and open to the presence of God.
Community Pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick
Last Thursday, our community members embarked on a beautiful pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick. It was a special occasion for many prayer intentions. Along the way, we met several individuals who asked us to pray with them and bless them. It is incredible to see that while some may think of it as just a walk, many come with special intentions to pray to St. Patrick.
Canon Lebocq's 50th Birthday
I express my profound gratitude for your kindness towards your humble servant.
Yesterday, I celebrated my 50th birthday. I was deeply touched by the number of birthday cards I received. A special thank you to those who requested Masses to be celebrated for me. As I embark on this second half-century, I am ready to continue serving in Ireland!
Youth Events and Summer Camps
This week, Canon Henry, being much younger than me, will be visiting several Boy Scout summer camps and walking with them. Please keep all these youth events in your prayers. They provide opportunities for deepening sincere friendships, fostering future Catholic families, and discerning vocations.
The girl’s summer camp led by our sisters in Ardee was a great success despite a bug that spread out. Several girls fell ill, and unfortunately, it seemed wiser to cancel the second summer camp for teenage girls. However, the boy’s summer camp is confirmed to go ahead.
Prayers for Monsignor Horgan
After requesting prayers for priests earlier this month, I now ask you to pray for a future bishop. Monsignor Horgan, originally from Ennis, has graced us with his visits several times over the past few years. Having served in different Nunciatures worldwide, he will be ordained a bishop this coming Saturday in Ennis Cathedral. Please pray for him as he takes on his new role as a Nuncio in Sudan, Africa.
Upcoming Event: Procession in Honour of Our Lady
Please mark your calendars for a procession in honour of Our Lady on 15th August.
Wishing you a blessed week!
Canon Lebocq
Prior of Sacred Heart Church
Live stream from the Sacred Heart Church
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Report from Riwoto, Africa
I send you warm Greetings from St Magdalen Parish, Riwoto, as we celebrate the feast of St Mary Magdalen. The feast day falls on Monday, 22nd July but we will celebrate it as a Parish on Sunday, 21st in order to have more participation from the Christian Community. It always feels joyful to write to you. It is even more exciting to write to you at this time as I feel that you are a part of our Parish and this feast would resonate with you as well.
Let me use this opportunity to let you know what has been happening in the Parish in the last few months.
Day of the African Child
The main celebration for the Day of the African Child in Riwoto was on 14th June. Guided by St Patrick’s Child Safeguarding team in East Africa, the global theme was adapted to “Education on Climate Change for all Children: the time is now”. The Parish promoted the idea of planting trees throughout the month of June and organised a clean-up in the local village market place and in the local Police compound on 8th June. The clean-up was a big success and our students from the Primary and Secondary schools were joined by students from Riwoto Primary School. The market place was swept and cleared of rubbish and areas of the Police compound which had been very overgrown were slashed and cleared. Between June and July over 50 trees have been planted in the Parish. There are still very many seedlings being nursed and will be planted in due course. We are happy to be contributing this much towards the sustenance of the globe. There is always the challenge, though, of keeping young trees alive given that this is an arid environment.
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There has been a good level of rainfall recently which has resulted in the healthy growth of sorghum. Unfortunately, the area has also been visited by a plague of weaver birds. Weaver birds usually descend on the area just as sorghum is maturing. In response, the people would stand all day on raised platforms on trees to battle with or scare the birds away. It is a hard job, which needs to be done every single day as long as the sun is up. But this year, the swarm of the birds has been too great. All the efforts of the local people to scare away the birds proved futile. As a result, the harvest has been a failure. This gives rise to uncertainty in the economic outlook of the local population. This is exacerbated by a plummeting South Sudanese economy. The SS pound is falling in value all the time and inflation keeps galloping away. In the last two months alone the SS. Pounds has fallen by15% in value against the US dollar.
There is also a high degree of political uncertainty. Elections are due to be held later in the year but there is some debate over whether or not they will proceed. There are suggestions that as many of the actions that were to be implemented under the 2018 peace agreement have not been implemented by the transitional government, elections would be premature. Earlier this week First Vice President Riek Machar announced that the SPLM-IO, which he leads, has pulled out from current peace talks initiative in Nairobi. This all adds to the uncertainty around the political direction of South Sudan. Whatever the case, we pray for peace.
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On the 14th June the main entertainment in the village was provided by the students of the Parish Primary and Secondary schools. The event was attended by the County Commissioner, a visiting representative of St Patrick’s Missionary Society, Members of the Parish and villagers from all over Riwoto environs. The students performed traditional dances, songs and poems and made speeches about the importance of education and protecting our environment. Everyone agreed that the students and their teachers had done themselves and the Parish proud. South Sudan’s Independence Day was celebrated on 12th July. Again, the students from St Mary Magdalen Primary school and Tim Galvin Secondary school provided much of the entertainment at the village celebration of the day.
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St Mary Magdalen Day
The Church Choir has been practising intensely all week and we look forward to celebrating a special Mass on Sunday to mark the occasion. During the Mass, focus will be on the life and personality of St Mary Magdalen and why she is a perfect Model for us as a parish. She was a simple person who having experienced great love from Christ responded by showing much love in return. And although she was humble and relatively silent in the gospel narratives, she turned out to be the first missionary entrusted with the news of the Resurrection. We too, who are in many ways simple people, can attain greatness in simplicity by growing deeper in love with Christ. At the end of Mass, we will share a light refreshment.
As a part of the celebration, the Parish is hosting a group of students from two schools in Narus parish this weekend. Debates, sports and liturgical activities are taking place as I write this. Their visit is a very joyful occasion for our pupils and students and certainly helps our mood of celebration.
Personnel Update
Fr Victor Samson has been transferred. He is now the Parish Priest of St. Joseph the Worker, Narus, South Sudan.
Fr Barnabus Kumasuun has been sent as Victor’s replacement. He was recently ordained on the 1st of June. He is on holidays at the moment and will commence ministry here at the end of September.
Jonathan Argoye, a St Patrick’s Missionary Seminarian, was recently assigned to the Parish. He is on his first missionary experience for one year.
Fran Leahy is visiting from Ireland and is volunteering here for six months. She will be here until November.
Yours sincerely,
Fr Blessed Ejenavi,
Parish Priest
==========================
How to visit Croagh Patrick without a car
It isn’t the highest mountain in Ireland, but Croagh Patrick may well be the most famous. There are over 3,000 years of history on this peak, dating back to neolithic times when it was considered a sacred site. The Celts worshipped the sun god Lugh here, and in AD 441 St Patrick fasted on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, which is why pilgrims still climb Croagh Patrick, or the Reek, on the last Sunday in July, known as Reek Sunday. History aside, Croagh Patrick makes for an excellent hike – on a clear day, the views over Clew Bay are exceptional, with 365 islands laid out before you.
The Bus Eireann 450 bus (six a day, 20 minutes) goes from Mill Street in the middle of Westport right to the entrance of the visitor centre at Croagh Patrick.
https://www.discoverireland.ie/mayo/car-free-croagh-patrick
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CATHOLIC: On this episode of “The Catholic Gentleman,” John Heinen, Sam Guzman, and Devin Schadt discuss five common evangelization mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Avoid Misrepresenting Christ and His Church
Learn to embrace humility and kindness in evangelization. “Knowledge puffs up our pride, but charity builds up,” Schadt says. Arguments and belligerence can repel rather than attract. Instead, represent Christ with patience and love.
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Bill Lauto is an environmental scientist and energy consultant who has been following and studying the Shroud of Turin since he was 14.
It all started when he found a photo of the artifact on the internet and “could not imagine how we were looking at a photograph of Jesus himself."
Nowadays, with a degree in science and faith in environment and energy and a Master's in Shroud studies, Bill is one of the expert members of the Shroud of Turin Exhibit at the 10th National Eucharist Congress occurring in Indianapolis.
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When men think about optimizing their hormones, they tend only to think about raising their testosterone. But while increasing T can be important, an ideal health profile also means having testosterone that’s in balance with your other hormones as well.
Today on the show, Dr. Kyle Gillett joins me to discuss both of those prongs of all-around hormone optimization. We start with a quick overview of the different hormones that affect male health. We then get into what qualifies as low testosterone and how to accurately test yours. We also discuss what causes low testosterone in individual men, and how its decline in the general male population may be linked to both birth control and the world wars.
===============
CNA Staff, Jul 4, 2024
BLESSED Pier Giorgio Frassati, born on April 6, 1901, to a prominent and wealthy Italian family, became a popular role model soon after he died on July 4, 1925, at the age of 24. He could be declared a saint during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, according to the head of the Vatican’s office for saints’ causes.
According to the website dedicated to him by the U.S. Catholic bishops, for years Frassati has been “a significant global patron for youth and young adults — and has a special place in the hearts of young people across the United States as well. St. John Paul II declared him a patron for World Youth Days and deemed him ‘the man of the beatitudes’ as he exemplified those blessings in his everyday life.”
Here are 12 amazing facts about his short but very intense life:
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Healing the Family Tree with Fr. Brendan Walsh
https://www.staroftheseacentre.com/event-details/healing-the-family-tree-with-fr-brendan-walsh
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ENERGY: Despite an upwards trend of energy needs at data centers, it’s still a small percentage of the amount of energy humans use overall. Fengqi You, an energy systems engineering researcher at Cornell, mentions oil refineries, buildings, and transportation as more impactful at the present moment. “Those sectors use much more energy compared to AI data centers right now,” he says. Keeping that in mind, AI’s energy consumption footprint could continue to grow in the near future, as generative AI tools are integrated into more corners of the internet and adopted by more users online.
====================
Lupus affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S. and can cause life-threatening damage to organs such as the kidneys, brain, and heart. Current treatments often fail to control the disease and can reduce the immune system's ability to combat infections, according to the study's authors.
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8 ways to honor Mary this May
Spirituality
by Maria Cintorino
Our Lady plays a pivotal role in our salvation. The Church asserts this, bestowing the titles “Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of All Graces” upon her. Yet, prior to these titles, Christ imparts upon Mary a name more fitting and endearing: that of mother. In a final act of love toward humanity, Christ entrusted Mary to St. John on the cross, gifting the Church — and subsequently each Christian — his mother.
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‘No one’s being honest about it’: how NHS crisis forces patients to go private
Long waiting lists are creating a boom in the medical insurance market, leading to fears of a long-term change in attitudes to the health service
Julia Kollewe
Sun 28 Apr 2024 14.00 CEST
When Rosemary Duff heard how long she would have to wait for a hip replacement operation on the NHS, she felt she had no choice but to dip into her savings.
“I waited a month to see my GP, then another four months to see a consultant. His opening words were ‘unless you go private, there’s an 18-month waiting list’, which was a bit of a shock,” said Duff, 71, from Norwich. “Much against my principles, I agreed to go private.”
Duff said her hips had started to play up after the first Covid lockdown, and she had physio through the NHS that had slowed down the deterioration. But a year ago she began experiencing increased pain, was not able to walk very far and struggled to get up the stairs.
Duff, who worked in market research before retiring, spent almost £28,000 having both hips replaced last year at a private hospital run by Circle Health Group. “A lot of money out of my savings, but my children said I should go ahead and do it!” she said.
==============================
The Department’s Culture Unit leads on Ireland’s cultural diplomacy worldwide, working closely with the Department of Culture (including Culture Ireland) and other partners, in the delivery of the ambitious cultural objectives of the Government’s Global Ireland 2025 strategy. Cultural diplomacy is an important part of the broader public diplomacy work of our global network of Missions, which organise cultural initiatives and events to advance awareness, appreciation and understanding of Ireland,
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/96e46-promoting-ireland-through-our-culture/
===========================
By Courtney Mares
Vatican City, 27 April, 2024 / 5:30 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis will attend the G7 summit in June to speak about the ethics of artificial intelligence, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Friday.
The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations summit is being held in the southern Italian region of Puglia from June 13–15 and will bring together leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.
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There were now 29 survivors, alone in the bitter cold of the Andes, with no way of contacting the outside world and their plane’s white fuselage all but invisible in the snow to any would-be rescuers that passed overhead. By the time their ordeal ended, an almost unfathomable 72 days after it began, the total number of survivors had dwindled to 16.
It later emerged that those who survived had done so in part by eating their fallen dead comrades. While world reaction was initially one of revulsion, that soon gave way to an appreciation of the fortitude and inventiveness that enabled them to beat seemingly impossible odds. The harrowing experience became known as the “Miracle of the Andes.”
https://www.history.com/news/miracle-andes-disaster-survival
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Civil War Fatalities in Kerry
by Owen O'Shea -----------------------------
The first engagement of the conflict in Kerry was in Listowel, when, on 30 June 1922, republicans seized control of the town from the National Army and the first casualty of the war in Kerry occurred when Private Edward Sheehy, a native of the town, was killed. Following the arrival of almost 1,000 troops at Fenit and Tarbert on 2 and 3 August, Tralee and Listowel quickly came under the control of the army. Tralee, as well as the main barracks at Ballymullen, was seized from the IRA within hours of the landing of 450 troops at nearby Fenit, nine of whom were killed in the effort to secure control of the county’s principal town.
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Concern raised over unsafe dumping of electrical items ----------------------------
Mr Donovan said there is an urgent need to meet forthcoming EU targets and secure sustainable sources of raw materials.
“The demand for critical raw materials contained in electrical devices is expected to skyrocket,” he said.
“The EU’s aim to ensure that by 2030, at least 30 per cent of critical raw materials consumed annually originate from European recycled sources underscores the imperative for swift and decisive action.
=======================
What you pray for, virtual priesthood, and an Eastern mystery
Ed. Condon- April 26, 2024 .
Happy Friday friends,
Today is the feast of the blesseds Robert Anderton and William Marsden, two English priests of the penal years under the reign of Bloody Queen Bess. And their somewhat truncated ministries are, to my mind, one of the great lessons in the Lord giving you exactly what you ask for.
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Gi Brides
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April 13, 2024, 4:25 PM GMT+4:30 / Updated April 13, 2024, 8:03 PM GMT+4:30
By Henry Austin
Iranian special forces seized a container ship near the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane to the Persian Gulf, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday.
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15 WordPress Pro Developers You Should Follow in 2024
The WordPress community can sometimes seem like a vast ocean of people, information, and resources. Here are 15 folks to follow to stay on top of everything you need to know.
https://wordpress.com/blog/2024/03/26/wordpress-developers-to-follow-2024/
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Podcast #983: Grid-Down Medicine — A Guide for When Help Is NOT on the Way
Brett & Kate McKay • April 17, 2024
If you read most first aid guides, the last step in treating someone who’s gotten injured or sick is always: get the victim to professional medical help.
But what if you found yourself in a situation where hospitals were overcrowded, inaccessible, or non-functional? What if you found yourself in a grid-down, long-term disaster, and you were the highest medical resource available?
Dr. Joe Alton is an expert in what would come after the step where most first aid guides leave off. He’s a retired surgeon and the co-author of The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide for When Help is NOT on the Way. Today on the show,
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Weekly Plan
https://www.artofmanliness.com/skills/how-to/weekly-plan/?mc_cid=9dfe73e3b1
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DEBT: Ken is the author of Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom, and today on the show, he shares the story of how his quest to erase his debt led him to the Arctic Circle and through the peaks and valleys of living a totally unshackled life. Ken explains why he went to Alaska to work as a truckstop burger flipper and park ranger to pay off his student debt, what it’s like to hitchhike across the country, how reading Thoreau’s Walden got him questioning how we live our lives, and how that inspiration led him to living in his van while attending grad school at Duke. Along the way, Ken shares his meditations on nonconformity, engaging in romantic pursuits, and the benefits of both de-institutionalizing and re-institutionalizing your life.
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Old pictures
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=333414113080511&set=a.138785645876693
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Thus, Abiy’s ambitions and his alliance with the UAE have ushered in a dangerous new era of proxy war and destabilization across the Horn of Africa. Over recent months, Egypt, Iran, and Turkey have been pouring arms into the region to undermine Emirati influence. Now, the standoff between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu threatens to develop into a larger conflagration. Already, it has imperiled Somalia’s security arrangements, which include Ethiopian contingents serving under an African Union flag. If Ethiopian forces withdraw, or are expelled, from those AU deployments, the Somalian militant group al Shabab will be the beneficiary and could threaten Mogadishu.
Meanwhile, numerous flashpoints in and around Ethiopia could explode at any moment.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ethiopia/ethiopia-back-brink?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
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Dozens of Catholic sisters participated as leaders, participants or observers in the 68th gathering of the commission at the United Nations in New York, held March 11-22. This year's priority theme was "Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective."
A final document of conclusions was approved by consensus on Friday, March 22, though U.N.-based diplomats were scheduled to reconvene on Wednesday, March 27, to air disagreements on the document, centering on language some countries find problematic, such as issues regarding sexuality.
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A short introduction to our sound clips by Camden's archivist Tudor Allen.
https://soundcloud.com/user-711218415-388162574/a-word-from-the-archivist
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Paul Shaw, SMG Central Congregational Archivist, talks about Mother Magdalen, the founding of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, and the work of the SMG Sisters in Camden.(© Poor Servants of the Mother of God) – running time 25 minutes
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A ST. PATRICK’S DAY REFLECTION:
St. Patrick Day is a celebration and because St. Patrick is our national apostle we
tend to celebrate our Irishness. It’s a celebration of what we have achieved at
home, a progression from poverty to prosperity. It’s a celebration of our
distinctiveness as a people in terms of language, music, culture and dancing. It’s a
celebration of our Irishness. The legacy that Patrick left us is a legacy of faith.
The faith that Patrick brought us has given each of us a personal introduction to
the Son of God, Jesus Christ. That by far is the richest part of our legacy, our
heritage. St Patrick tells us himself in his confessions: The only reason he came
back to Ireland was to bring the faith to the people of Ireland. He said: I never
had any other reason other than that the Gospel for coming back. He came back
because without Christ we were lost. Patrick said: it is my duty fearlessly and
confidently to spread Gods name everywhere, so that after my death I may leave
a legacy to many thousands of people. St Patrick was consumed with a holy zeal to
spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The legacy that Patrick left us is a legacy of
faith which has stood the test of time. It has lasted with us for some 1500 years.
It has given us an assurance that there is a God above and that we are forever in
His love, that He will one day welcome us home. It has given us insights into life,
standards by which we live, a way of worshipping together that Christ himself has
given us in the mass. It has helped us to be more faithful to one another in
marriage. To care for one another as neighbours and to look beyond death and
bereavement to the prospect of eternal life. The faith that Patrick brought us
has given each one of us a personal introduction to the Son of God himself. That
by far is the richest part of our legacy our heritage.
==============================
JOURNEY WITH US THROUGH LENT
Each Week we will have a different theme as we try to deepen our faith
commitment . This week we focus on Family. The following might be
helpful for your own private prayer and reflection, as well as a focus in our
Masses for the time ahead.
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5TH WEEK OF LENT: FAMILY
Mon: We pray for the gift of Family
Tues: We pray for our own role in the family
Wed: We pray for legislators that they protect the family
Thurs: We pray for healing of broken families
Fri: We pray for families who are carrying the burden of illness
Sat: We pray for all emigrant families who have come among us
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TINTEAN: Other than poetry submissions, please submit items with a word count of between 500 and 2500 words, in Word. Please do not send a PDF. Word counts outside of those suggested may be negotiated. We are willing to work with authors on submissions in order to best serve our readers, so do not hesitate to offer a submission. We expect authors to provide proper attribution to sources they have used for their research, and to provide relevant images also with attribution.
While we prefer submissions that have not been published previously, we have made exceptions in the past. If your submission, or part of it, has appeared in print already, please identify the publication, and secure the publisher’s permission to republish with due acknowledgements of the original publisher, and email us with evidence that you have done so.
Please include a short biographical note at the end of your submission. You can see examples at the end of previous articles in Tinteán. See tintean.org.au
While Tinteán reserves the right to reject submissions, all submissions will be read and responded to, providing sources have been provided. We do not publish AI material. Enquiries and submissions to dymphnalonergan@gmail.com
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Barry O’Meara was an Irish surgeon and physician who served as Napoleon Bonaparte’s personal physician during his exile on the island of St. Helena from 1815 to 1818. He was born in Ireland and according to the Dictionary of Irish Biography was ‘the son of Jeremiah O’Meara, solicitor, and his wife, the sister of Edmund Murphy, MA, of TCD.’ The ‘wife’ does not have a name, apparently. Although it is claimed by some that he studied to be a doctor at Trinity College, Dublin, the DIB says there are no records of his attendance there. It is likely that he acquired his medical knowledge in other Dublin institutions, private medical schools. O’Meara was appointed as a naval surgeon on the HMS Bellerophon, the ship that transported Napoleon to exile after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was so impressed with his fluency in French and Italian that he asked that O’Meara be assigned to him on St Helena. This was granted.
https://tintean.org.au/2024/03/10/napoleons-irish-doctor/
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BOOK LAUNCH IN Adelaide
Sunday April 14 at 2pm Adelaide Irish Club 13-15 Carrington Street
Wakefield Press and Adelaide Irish Club are pleased to invite you to the launch of Irish Women in the Antipodes: Foregrounded, edited by Susan Arthure, Stephanie James, Dymphna Lonergan and Fidelma McCorry to, and launched by Dr Kiera Lindsey, South Australia’s History Advocate.
Irish Women in the Antipodes: Foregrounded is a collection of Irish women’s contributions to life in the Antipodes, stories that have been neglected or insufficiently acknowledged. The contributors have used all available tools to find these women in the archives, public records, newspapers, and family histories, taking them from the proverbial footnotes of history to the foreground.
https://tintean.org.au/2024/03/10/whats-on-in-march-and-beyond/
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By: Imogen Lepere- March 11, 2024
The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR.
In nineteenth-century Britain, rumors about “the curse of the Nile” abounded. As Nezar AlSayyad points out, most explorers who sought the great river’s source not only failed in their mission, they also met untimely and unfortunate ends. James Bruce died alone after tumbling downstairs. Richard Burton was upstaged by his travel partner John Hanning Speke, who ultimately shot himself. David Livingstone disappeared while trying to solve the Nile mystery. However, there was one who seemed immune to the curse: Mbarak Mombée, who died peacefully in 1885 at age sixty-five.
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Sa Pa, Lao Cai, Vietnam — March 11, 2024
Hmong ethnic Joseph Ma A Lau, 25, and Therese Giang Thi Xu, 22, in their traditional clothes, held their marriage ceremony at Sa Pa Church on Jan. 4.
Their ceremony was attended by 170 married couples who celebrated the 5th, 10th and 15th anniversaries of their marriages, and 40 other couples whose marriages had not been regularized by the church since they were under legal marriage age.
Those couples from four Hmong-dominated parishes of Hau Thao, Lao Chai, Sa Pa and Su Pan in Sa Pa town of the northern province of Lao Cai attended the first-ever gathering to observe the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
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Gina Christian
OSV News
Join the Conversation
Jenkintown, Pa. — February 26, 2024
Mere days before the second anniversary of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, women religious from that nation and the United States were recognized for their extraordinary efforts to bring Jesus Christ to those suffering from war, poverty and addiction.
On Feb. 22, the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great were formally presented with the 2023-24 Lumen Christi Award, the highest honor conferred by Catholic Extension. Taking its name from the Latin words for "light of Christ," the Lumen Christi Award affirms those who radiate and reveal Christ's love where they serve.
"Today we are here because a group of women religious have gathered out of a sense of mission, to try to build up our Catholic faith and transform the world in which we live, (especially) at this horrific moment in the life of Ukraine," said Catholic Extension president Fr. Jack Wall.
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The Way I See It
https://www.athea.ie/category/news/
By Domhnall de Barra
I think it was the late Bob Hope who said that Ireland was a lovely country especially when you could get the four season’s weather in one day. I experienced something like that on Friday when I travelled to Clonlara in Co. Clare to pick up some paper. When I left it was cold and raining torrents from the sky so hard that it was difficult to see the road before me. This lasted until I had passed Adare and then I had hailstone and sleet. Just beyond Limerick it dried up and by the time I got to Clonlara the sun was shining like a summer’s day. On the way home, the sky began to darken again and by the time I got to Ardagh it was snowing. It was really heavy in Carrigkerry and the whole place was covered in a thick blanket of white. It got lighter as I travelled on and by the time I reached Athea there wasn’t a sign of snow. People were looking amazed at my car which was covered in white so I experienced a diversity of weather in a relatively short journey through the County Limerick. There is no doubt that we are getting a lot more rain than usual and I suppose it is down to climate warming. At least we are getting the flood relief scheme which will be a comfort to those living near the river.
Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on my appearance on the telly last week playing with the Liverpool Céili Band. People have asked me what was my connection with the band so I tell them that it goes back to the late ‘60s when I lived and worked in Liverpool. I actually got married in Liverpool and my first two children were born there. The Liverpool Ceile Band were famous at the time having won the All-Ireland, toured America and appeared on “Sunday night at the London Palladium” the top entertainment show on TV at the time. I joined them when Kevin Finnegan went to America and Frank Horan returned to Ireland to take up a teaching job in Roscommon. The band was centred around the leader Seán MacNamara, a Liverpudlian who had connections in Co. Clare, and Eamonn Coyne also born in Liverpool with Sligo connections. As a matter of fact, I was the only one who was born in Ireland. They were without doubt, the best musicians you could get but they were also full of fun and devilment. We played a few times a week and had a session every Sunday morning in the Irish Centre which was usually jam packed for the couple of hours we were there. I came back to Ireland in 1973 to take up a full time job as Munster organise for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann but that did not end my connection with the band. I joined them every time they came to Ireland and I used to go over every so often especially if they had a big gig on. Those years with the Liverpool were the happiest times of my life but sadly none of the original band are still alive. I am the only one left but others who joined the band in later years come together every so often to keep the spirit of the Liverpool alive. Two years ago, Sean MacNamama’s son-in-law, Ray Rooney, wrote a book on the band and we got together for the launch in Ennis. That is why we gathered again at the All-Ireland in Mullingar and appeared on the TV show from there. People also ask me why we were jumping up and down to the music. Well, this was started by Eamon Coyne in his hayday and it has been a kind of signature of the band ever since. Playing with the band was always about enjoyment and passing it on to the audience. We should never take ourselves too seriously especially playing music that is all about enjoyment. We are getting together again to play at Fleadh Nua in Ennis to mark its 50th anniversary. I am looking forward to that.
Athea Drama Group are ready to take to the stage for this year’s production “Turning Mammy” which will begin at the hall on March 16th and run for seven nights. It is traditional to have plays at this time of the year because of the laws of the Church that reigned supreme a few years ago. Lent was strictly observed with fasting and abstinence the rule. People took it very seriously and it was thought to be a great sin if someone had meat on a fast day. I remember my father at a time when he had a lorry and sold turf for a living. He was down near Knocklong on a very cold, miserable March day dropping off a load of turf. The family were Protestant and when he was invited in for tea he was given a plate of rashers and sausages. He did not want to insult the woman of the house so, even though he knew he was doing wrong, he polished off the food. That did not stop him feeling guilty so, the next Saturday night, he went to Confession. He told the priest he had eaten the meat and the circumstances. The priest said to him, “you were hungry and cold so you did the right thing” and gave him his penance. Needless to say he was mightily relieved coming out of the confessional box. Dancing was forbidden during Lent so there was no entertainment on Sunday nights. That’s when the drama groups started and there was a play in most parish halls for the seven weeks until the bands returned again. That practice has stayed with us and it is a pity because all the plays are on at the same time. If they were staggered throughout the year we might get a chance to see all of them at our leisure instead of trying to cram in three or four a week. The best one I have seen lately was the Abbeyfeale production “The Banshees of Crokey Hill”. It is a good play but what impressed me most was the standard of acting which was bordering on the professional. Looking forward now to seeing our local group in action.
https://www.athea.ie/category/news/
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Notes from Tom Aherne ; By Carrig Side – 28/2/24.
ICA: 50TH ANNIVERSARY: Ardagh ICA Guild are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and the members came together recently to mark this milestone. The Ardagh Guild was formed on 12-2-1974, (I also saw March 11, 1974, mentioned) and the first officers were President Eileen Collins, Vice President Mrs Danaher, Secretary Maura O’Dwyer, Treasurer Kathleen Wilmott. Press Officer Mrs O’Sullivan, Production Officer Miss K O’Connor, Competition Secretary Mrs Breen, International Officer Mrs Kennelly.
In the early years the emphasis was on craft such as upholstery, rush work, rug making and sewing classes. The Guild entered many competitions, including ”Make and Model”, Drama, Set Dancing, and the Quiz team won many prizes. On March 7,1988, the Guild hosted its first Federation meeting and the following week the first round of the Friends Washing Up Liquid” sponsored competition. Their achievements include an ”Arts Award for Literature” presented to Mary Tobin O’Connor in December 1998 and May 1999. Mary was awarded third prize in the national final of ‘Jacobs/I.C.A. Creative Writing” competition. In 2003 the Federation ”Role of Honour” was presented to Joan Riordan.
Ardagh Guild has been very involved in many activities at local/community level, being involved in setting up a Parish Community Alert scheme, fundraising and overseeing the erection of road signs in conjunction with Limerick Council. The parish Christmas Party for Senior Citizens and the Chiropody Clinic were also initiated by the Guild. They have held classes in cookery, flower arranging and art etc. Joan Riordan was Federation President for the Golden Jubilee of Limerick Federation in 1994 and continued to serve in various roles at national level. Down the years many charities and organisations have benefited from fundraising. They have held fashion shows, invited guest speakers to deal with a wide variety of topics and organised annual outings. Continued success to the members of Ardagh Guild in the future.
HOUSE:
ELM HILL: A noted landmark on the Ardagh to Reens junction Elm Hill House at Kilscannell has been falling into a derelict condition in recent years. Maurice Studdert a Magistrate and Captain in the Limerick Volunteers built Elm Hill House in the middle of the eighteenth century. It was a two-story eighteenth-century house erected over a basement, and the property of I.Studdert in 1837. The house passed through the Wandesford and Magner families and was purchased by Patrick Woulfe in 1931. The Woulfe family continued to live in the house until the 1990s, with two brothers being the last occupants. In the intervening years the house became derelict, as rain poured in through large holes in the roof and the floorboards becoming rotten. in recent weeks the roof has fallen in and Elm Hill house is now just a past landmark.
https://www.athea.ie/category/news/
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by Peg Prendeville
George Langan’s reply to Peg’s poem
from last weeks issue
Ah yes indeed Peg, the sweet Kerryline
Where oft-times we roamed, in the sweet summertime
Down the bog road, from your old mountain home
Where times long ago, the memories were sown
In that whitewashed house, humble and clear
Echoed the sounds, of laughter and cheer.
Where once was a bog-hole, there’s now a bright lake
The sign of the times, how my heart it dot break
And the well in the meadow, we can no longer see
Surrounded by spruce, and the conifer tree
God rest your dear gran, she was Bridge Faley White
Who worked like a beaver from morning till night
And the lads cutting turf, on the famous round bank
Bill, Paddy, Mick, Danny, and Danaher ‘The Yank’
Higgins and Langan’s, and the Falahee boys,
The Lynch’s and Dalton’s, those familiar eyes
Many years have since passed, since you moved away
But your heart still remains, where the grouse once held sway
Many neighbours are gone, but their presence remains
In that haven of peace, where love it sustains
And as the Kerryline carries us, both on our way
Within our young hearts we long for to stay
We remember the ‘Bard’, see the imprint of his toes
Inspiring us daily, these lines to compose.
George Langan
https://www.athea.ie/2024/02/knockdown-news-28-02-24/
===========================
Matt D’Antuono Blogs
February 26, 2024
My family and I live on a hobby farm. It’s not much. We have rabbits, chickens, bees, dogs, cats and a big garden, and we all have our farm chores. The older kids share a rotating schedule of chores, and there are times, like the winter, when it gets difficult. Distributing water to the animals in freezing temperatures is not a fun task. But at least they are not having to do the chores with only one eye.
When Adele Brise was a young girl, while making soap with her family, some lye burned her eye. She was blind in her right eye for the rest of her life, but she continued to do all the chores required in her family.
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By Kate Quiñones
CNA Staff, Feb 28, 2024 / 17:30 pm
In an interview with EWTN News, renowned psychologist and author Jordan Peterson shared his perspective on his wife’s “miraculous” recovery from cancer and his view of her embrace of the Catholic faith.
Peterson recounted that upon learning of his wife Tammy’s diagnosis, the couple sought treatment options in various hospitals across North America. Wherever they turned, he said, they were told available treatments had “no evidence for success” and the one-year survival rate for the cancer afflicting Tammy “was zero.”
==================================
Your life priority is no longer what “you” want
by Brian Monzón
Published on February 9, 2024
Categories: Spiritual Growth
Your life priority is no longer what “you” want
Philippians 2:9-11
“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In the New Testament Jesus is called Savior less than ten times, while He is called Lord more than 700 times, clearly demonstrating the priority Jesus is to have in one’s life. Many people confess Jesus as Lord and Savior without having any knowledge of what that actually means.
When you confess Jesus Christ is Lord, you are completely surrendering to the reign and rule of His Lordship in your life, it is an acknowledgement of His total takeover of your life. You’re no longer free to live as you want.
Any one who thinks they can superficially confess Jesus is Lord and Savior and still have the right to run their own life, needs to understand that the only thing you’re running is your life right into hell.
That’s why Jesus says the only way you’ll ever save your life is to “die to self,” to completely abandon your own will, your own desires, your own ambitions, even your former relationships that are sinful by God’s standards.
The priority in your life is no longer what you want, and what pleases you, it’s giving all that up to live a life that is pleasing to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Jesus makes it clearer in Matthew 7:13-14, when He says “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 10:32-33:
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
The idea here is if you don’t deny yourself and confess My Lordship, you are not qualified as one who truly belongs to Me and I will deny you before My Father who is in heaven. Jesus doesn’t accept anything less than that.
Matthew 16:24-25:
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
The language is unmistakably clear, you cannot be saved and refuse to give up anything in your life, your friends, family, possessions, or sinful lifestyle. Anyone preaching another Gospel is preaching a perverted message that is authored by Satan and not God and is worthless for salvation.
Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “
Brian Monzón grew up attending church with his grandmother. Through her actions, she impressed upon him the power of the prayers of the righteous, as she herself spent many hours kneeling before God, praying for her family and the needs of others. Besides being a pastor, Brian has been studying and teaching the Word of God for many years. He has devoted his life to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, praying with and for others, especially the unsaved. Brian is also a proud father of four children. He challenges them to be their best and has strived to raise his family up in church and on the Word of God. To discover more about Brian and his ministry please visit Brian Monzón Ministries.
Photo by Wallpaper Safari
https://www.christiangrandfather.org/2024/02/09/your-life-priority-is-no-longer-what-you-want/
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When grandparents and parents play on the same team, kids come out ahead.
https://www.christiangrandfather.org/
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Pakistan is a hostile country for Christians however, the Lord Jesus Christ is using His people tremendously across the country to spread the Gospel and he changing the lives of non-Christians. Pastor Anwar Fazal, a sincere and humble man of God, hosted a two day conference in the city of Lahore, Pakistan.
https://www.christiangrandfather.org/2024/02/08/the-persecuted-church-in-pakistan/
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The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information
The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.
While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.--------------------
The 2025 ICRA National Championships will be held at Kinsale Yacht Club it has been confirmed.
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Setting and patients: Neonates in the NICU of a university-affiliated children's hospital.
Interventions: Improved hand washing and restriction of use of long or artificial fingernails.
Results: Of 439 neonates admitted during the study period, 46 (10.5%) acquired P aeruginosa; 16 (35%) of those died. Fifteen (75%) of 20 patients for whom isolates were genotyped had genotype A, and 3 (15%) had genotype B. Of 104 healthcare workers (HCWs) from whom hand cultures were obtained, P aeruginosa was isolated from three nurses. Cultures from nurses A-1 and A-2 grew genotype A, and cultures from nurse B grew genotype B. Nurse A-1 had long natural fingernails, nurse B had long artificial fingernails, and nurse A-2 had short natural fingernails. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, exposure to nurse A-1 and exposure to nurse B were each independently associated with acquiring a BSI or ETT colonization with P aeruginosa, but other variables, including exposure to nurse A-2, were not.
Conclusion: Epidemiological evidence demonstrated an association between acquiring P aeruginosa and exposure to two nurses. Genetic and environmental evidence supported that association and suggested, but did not prove, a possible role for long or artificial fingernails in the colonization of HCWs' hands with P aeruginosa. Requiring short natural fingernails in NICUs is a reasonable policy that might reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10697282/
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Hers wasn’t pretty either.
The patient they called me to see in the ER the other day was brought to the hospital from a Nursing facility that provides care for patients who are ventilator dependent. A few months prior she arrived at another hospital after a cardiac arrest—and unfortunately had anoxic brain injury (lack of oxygen to the brain). After weeks of multiple hospital complications, it was becoming clear that many of her organs have failed… but were still functioning. Not optimally, but present enough to be in the audience… albeit absent of any signs of significant participation.
The only applause in the background was probably from her family, whose hope for some answers most likely became fading cries for a miracle. The devastation of anoxic bring injury carries with it a prolonged (lifelong) care plan that hospitals (fast food magic/circus shows) are not equipped to support. Thus, patients with these injuries have tracheostomy (a surgically created tracheal orifice in their necks for ventilator support) and gastric (feeding) tubes placed. They are then rapidly discharged to (not so) Long Term Acute Care (LTACs) facilities, who perform more magic tricks for about 20-30 days for the price of admission (or what CMS/Insurances are willing to pay), then—Poof!
No more magic. No more promises of betterment. No more illusions of wellness. Just a circle of "in-and-out" of the hospital visits… that ultimately end in death when the body can no longer the handle the rigors of illness and disease… or more circles.
https://adoctoredlife.com/%240-02-blog/f/abracadabra
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One organ, eye, and tissue donor can save and heal more than 75 lives.
Every day, we work to ensure that organs and tissues are always available to those in need and that every family that wants to donate has the chance to do so.
https://www.midamericatransplant.org/
====================
There’s an old story of a father who wanted to help his son understand the importance of getting his temper under control.
He gave his son a bag of nails and told him to hammer a nail into their wooden fence whenever he got angry.
At first, the boy had to drive in many nails each day, but as the practice gave him greater awareness of his anger, he began to lose his temper less often. His father then told him to remove a nail each day that passed without an angry outburst.
When the boy had removed all of the nails, his father brought him over to the fence to examine its now pitted slats. “When you’re tempted to go back to your old ways,” the father counseled his son, “remember these holes. Even though you’ve pulled out the nails, the holes cannot be repaired. In the same way, anger can create damage that can never be undone.”
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The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
Michael Fitzmaurice, TD for Galway-Roscommon, has joined the new political party, Independent Ireland which was formed by Limerick’s Richard O’Donoghue and Cork’s Michael Collins. This party hopes to find support in rural Ireland and offer an alternative to those who want to oust Fine Gael/Fianna Fail but don’t want to vote for Sinn Fein. I have been an admirer of Micheal Fitzmaurice for many years and have enjoyed listening to him in debates where he brings a touch of common sense when it comes to plans, especially by the Green Party, to make changes that would destroy rural life as we know it. He comes from an area where there is a good deal of bogland and he was particularly annoyed at the thought of rewetting land that is being used by small farmers in his area. It is very easy for people who live in towns and cities to come up with bright ideas about how to save the planet but they do not think through the consequences for those who work on and live off the land. For years farmers were advised, and even given grants, to cut down hedgerows, use fertiliser, drain their lands and maximise their output. They did that and I well remember seeing contractors in most of our farms making drains to take the water away. The result was more land that was fit for tillage and hay and farming became more intensified. As a result it became good business and the produce became our biggest asset. Irish food is famous all over the world and we are rightly proud of it. Now we have suggestions to change all that because of global warming. Of course something must be done but, as I have often said before, we are but a tiny speck on the globe and unless the big powers like China, India, the US and South America come on board, we will not make a bit of difference even if we kill every cow and let the land go to waste. Donald Trump has promised that, if he gets elected in America (he says “when”), he will reverse the trend towards electric cars and open up the traditional car factories again. He also says he will open the mines again, as he said , it will be “dig baby, dig”. The chances of him becoming president are getting better day by day as Joe Biden’s health and memory come under scrutiny. With this prospect in mind, is it right to ask rural Ireland to make decisions that will destroy, not only their livelihoods but the future of small towns and villages everywhere. I don’t know if this new political party will have any great success because there have been a number started over the years that eventually fell by the wayside. If they can attract a few more of the rural independent TDs, who have good following in their constituencies, to their ranks they could do damage to the established parties in the next election. At least they will give people an opportunity to vote for an alternative to Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I wish them well.
The plan to ban motor traffic from Central Dublin shows how badly we are prepared for change in this country. We had it with the push to get everyone into electric cars before having the charging points ready around the country. It must be very annoying to arrive at a charging station to find all the points occupied and have to wait an hour or more to get hooked up and then have to wait while your car is being charged. Even worse to arrive at a point and find it out of order. Surely a greater effort should have been made to provide the service before the big sell on EVs. There is also of course the question of electricity supply. If we all go over to electric vehicles, where is all the power going to come from? As it is, we are in danger of power outages at certain times of the year due to over demand. Putting the cart before the horse achieves nothing. The Dublin plan is an example. Public transport is not good enough to accommodate the people who have to go to the city centre every day. The proposers cite other cities that have traffic free centres but they all have great transport infrastructures. When I am in London, Paris or New York, I wouldn’t dream of driving in the city centre because the public transport is so good. The underground systems are absolutely wonderful, travelling frequently and on time, and at a reasonable fee, to get within a short walking distance of any place in the city. Dublin does not have an underground system which is its biggest problem. Yes, the Luas and the Dart are there but they only cover certain areas and the buses are infrequent and unpredictable. I know something has to be done about the traffic congestion but banning it in the city just moves the problem up the road a bit. Until public transport is fit for purpose it will be a disaster.
I heard another harebrained suggestion on the radio today. It was from another “save the planet” group who want to put a limit on the number of tourists allowed into the country every year. The reason given is the fact that they have to fly to get here and then when they have arrived they use cars and take up spaces in houses at a time when we don’t have enough. Over the years, the government, through Bórd Failte, have spent billions promoting Irish tourism because it has been a lifesaver for this country, especially for those along the Western seaboard. They have succeeded in making “The Wild Atlantic Way” and “Ireland’s Ancient East” attractive to people from all over the world who come here to sample our hospitality. While here they spend lots of money on food, goods and entertainment and that money is vital to the survival of many communities. Imagine what would happen if there weren’t any tourists. Places like Killarney would become ghost towns and many parts of rural Ireland would be subject to mass emigration again. Is this really the way forward.? “Save the planet” by all means but what is the point if those who are left are like they were back in the dark ages. The way some people want us to act, we might as well all commit suicide now and leave the planet to the animals.
https://www.athea.ie/category/news/
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THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK FOR LENT
Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go,
Scatter bits of courtesy watch them grow and grow
Gather buds of friendship keep them till full-blown
Then you’ll find more happiness than you’ve ever known.
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HAPPINESS & SUCCESS can be achieved, but only after travelling on a road of bumps and warning
signs. The road will not be straight and easy. You will swerve on loops of Confusion, take jolts on
bumps known as Failure, and halt at the red lights called Enemies. Fortunately, you will glide through
green lights called Family, have back-up spares known as Determination, forge ahead with an engine -
called Perseverance, and enjoy good insurance called Faith. And at the end of the day, signs should welcome us to a place called Success.
Please send a little healing, Lord – a gentle loving touch to ease the strains and aches and pains that trouble us so much. Send down your warming, calming rays, like sunlight from above, to soothe the spirit and the mind and wrap us in your love. Then, through the dark
and quiet night sweep all our ills away. Please send a little healing, Lord, and give us
strength each day.
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CONFESSION: In his landmark encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi on the Catholic Church as the Mystical Body of Christ (promulgated universally in the midst of World War II in 1943), Pope Pius XII defends the practice of frequent confession — even if one has only venial sins to confess. He says that through the regular reception of the Sacrament of Confession, “genuine self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted, the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself.” (Mystici Corporis Christi, 88).
So, whether it be just venial sins that are confessed, or mortal sins, or a combination of both, these are the nine chief benefits of this particular sacrament. Let’s look at each of these benefits and explain them further:
1. Self-knowledge is increased. Many saints make it clear in their writing and teaching that self-knowledge is needed to grow in holiness. This means knowing and admitting your virtues so you can advance them in your life, and knowing and admitting your vices so you can uproot them out of your life.
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FEVER: Between 1873 and 1879, nearly eight thousand people died during Memphis’s Yellow Fever epidemics. While ministering to the sick, some thirty-four physicians lost their lives, along with twenty-four police officers and twenty-four firefighters, two dozen Catholic priests, and fifty women religious. In Memphis’s Calvary Cemetery there stands a monument to the priests, but none to the Sisters. Although a monument in Washington, D.C., honors nuns who served in Civil War hospitals, more Sisters died in Memphis in those six years than during the entire war.
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Dominican priest, Rev. Joseph Augustine Kelly, whose humble grave on Chapel Hillside, in Calvary, marks the resting spot of one of America’s greatest men.
The Book of Three States: Notable Men of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee (Memphis: Commercial Appeal Publishing Co., 1914), 223.
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Listowel Search
Father John M. Cronin was born November 13, 1873, in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland. He received his elementary education in the Listowel ...
https://www.patheos.com/search?q=listowel#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=listowel&gsc.page=1
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444 Irish Catholic Martyrs & Heroic Confessors
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SOLAR: The Biden administration has updated the roadmap for solar development to 22 million acres of federal lands in the US West.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have determined that 700,000 acres of federal lands will be needed for solar farms over the next 20 years, so BLM recommended 22 million acres to give “maximum flexibility” to help the US reach its net zero by 2035 power sector goal.
The plan is an update of the Bureau of Land Management’s 2012 Western Solar Plan, which originally identified areas for solar development in six states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
https://electrek.co/2024/01/18/us-govt-opens-22-million-acres-federal-lands-solar/
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Presentation Listowel MatildaJan2024
https://www.facebook.com/reel/407457631657808
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We ought to concentrate on making things better in our own backyards.
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Bishop John Noonan was born in Limerick, Ireland, and immigrated to New York at the age of 18 and later relocated to Miami where his calling to the priesthood led him to St. John Vianney College Seminary. After graduation, he attended St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary and graduated with a Master of Divinity in 1983. On September 23, 1983, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Miami, and received his first pastoral assignment as parochial vicar, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, Pompano Beach.
From early in his priesthood, he was seen as a humble servant willing to do whatever needed in service to the Lord. He excelled at leading young people to Christ and became chaplain for Youth Ministry in Broward County between 1985 and 1987. He then assisted young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood as Dean of Men, St. John Vianney College Seminary from 1989 to 1993.
https://www.orlandodiocese.org/biography/
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A retired Catholic priest with the Diocese of Orlando and his sister were among the four people killed in Sunday afternoon shootings in Palm Bay, Florida, according to a diocesan statement.
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The United States and European Union have announced that they are suspending new funding for UNRWA, in addition to Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other countries.
The cuts follow reports that the agency’s staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostage, sparking the current war. The Wall Street Journal cited intelligence sources who said ties between Hamas and the agency run deeper than previously known, with 10% of UNRWA staffers implicated in the activities of Hamas. UNRWA last week fired 12 staffers after Israel shared evidence that they were involved in the massacre.
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“This is something we can all get behind, and I think people have been missing that. There’s a lot of division right now…That’s the power of this message. That’s the power of this time.” - Father Agustino Torres, CFR
Listen in as Season 1 host, Father Agustino Torres, CFR, officially hands off the reins of the Revive Podcast to Season 2 host, Tim Glemkowski (CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress)!
In this episode, Tim and Father Agustino discuss the movement of the Eucharistic Revival across the United States, religious life with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and how the Eucharist is the source of unity in a time of division.
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_nANM-CICkW4ImPVFXiLtw
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“No one is ready for what’s COMING in 2024” Gerald Celente warns | Redacted with Clayton Morris
https://youtu.be/AdMCb8fdIsU?si=qlTuXaY7hVIKKmjo
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Oct 10, 2023
Is This Accidental Discovery The Future Of Energy? Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code UNDECIDED for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/undecided Imagine getting the energy needed to power our phones, light up our homes, or drive our cars, from thin air. And no, we’re not talking about Nikola Tesla’s dream of wireless power a century ago, but a new and accidental discovery along those lines from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Researchers have found a way to turn humidity into electricity. It’s called hygroelectrical power, and believe it or not, a company named CascataChuva is already trying to commercialize a variant of the technology. So, what is it and how does it work?
https://youtu.be/ZyY1PLTlmT0?si=AiHBx20Yx_0Fedj7
=======================
1792 Recipe For The Cure Of A Fever. A Recipe For Curing Cancer
https://durrushistory.com/2024/01/28/1792-recipe-for-the-cure-of-a-fever-a-recipe-for-curing-cancer/
=================================
Sign up at FORMED Daily to receive these daily reflections directly to your inbox. Start your day off right. Be inspired and renewed each morning with a short video from Dr. Tim Gray.
=============================
By .JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN
ALBANY, N. Y., SUNDAY, MAY 19, 1957
Albany NY Times Union 1957 - 2164 (2).pdf
(Written Expressly for INS. World Copyright, 1957, by INS)
FOR a decade I lived in the world of blindness. I married a wife I'd never seen. We had children I could know only with my heart and hands. I wrote books I never read.
In the Spring of 1947 I was rapidly losing the little sight I had brought back from the war 18-months
before. I lived in the Sarthe Valley of France, where I studied with the famed Benedictine monks of Solesmes. .Alone at night, I puttered about my room, trying to ignore the blindness that was walling me in. But my lamp reminded me each time I turned toward it Sight had faded until the bare globe was like candlelight seen through fog . At twenty six, I looked on this as the end of a life of adventure begun in my teens when I had gone to France to study medicine. Before my twentieth birthday I had been assistant to the doctor in charge of the insane asylum of Tours, had worked in the French underground and had fled the invading Germans. Then there had been nearly three years in the
Pacific where Bomb concussions had damaged my vision ( see paper for more)
https://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
==================================
Reflect
Read this slowly - GODISNOWHERE
What did you read? God is no where or God is now here.
Just a beautiful line to say - LIFE DEPENDS ON THE WAY WE LOOK AT THINGS
LAST WORD: Compliment people as often as you can. Magnify their strengths not their weaknesses.
====================
A NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan .....
I came across this during the week: British soldier Glenn Haughton, was on patrol
in Afghanistan. As he was walking across a field he felt the rosary he always wore
slip from his neck. Bending down to recover his rosary he realised he was standing
at a landmine. Staying perfectly still he prayed while an explosives expert
dismantled the device. The rosary had saved his life. A life he enjoyed because his
grandfather, also a British soldier, was saved by the rosary.
Sixty five years earlier, his grandfather, Joseph Tyrone and his troop were
retreating before the German army. Joseph paused in the march to pick up
something he saw on the ground. As he was bent over something whizzed over his
head and struck the soldiers he had been walking with. They were all killed. The
object he bent over to pick up was a rosary.
=========================
Prayer to St Brigid
Bridget, you were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace
cover those who are troubled and anxious.
And may peace be firmly rooted in
our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to
reverence all God has made.
Bridget, you were a voice for the
wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater
wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.
=====================
HISTORY: Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.
Did you know? The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month
============================
Reflection
Grant O Lord, that each day
before we enter the little death of sleep,
we may undergo the little judgement of the past day,
so that every wrong deed may be forgiven
and every unholy thought set right.
Let nothing go down into the depths of our being,
which has not been forgiven and sanctified.
Then we shall be ready
for our final birth into eternity
and look forward with love and hope
to standing before you,
who art both judge and saviour,
holy judge and loving saviour.
==========================
Prayer to St. Brigid.
May Brigid bless the house wherein we dwell.
Bless every fireside, every wall and door.
Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof.
Bless every hand that toils to bring its joy.
Bless every foot that walks portals through.
May Brigid bless the house that shelters us. Amen
==============================
We, the people of the Diocese of Kerry,
in communion with the universal Catholic Church,
trusting in a loving and merciful God
proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people
by living out, in community,
our baptismal calling to love, justice and peace
through witness, worship and service
We are a Roman Catholic Diocese in the South West of Ireland made up of 53 parishes and 144,000 Catholics.
Our vision is of a diocese:
where we encounter a loving and merciful God, whom we worship in community and as individuals;
where we respect the dignity and giftedness of each other;
where we safeguard and nurture children and young people;
where we experience belonging and welcome;
where we listen to and learn from others;
where we engage with the challenges of an ever-changing world;
where we deepen our commitment to justice, peace and the integrity of creation locally, within Ireland and in the wider world;
where we respect and engage with other groups, cultures and faiths;
where we are committed to witness to the Gospel locally, nationally and in the wider world;
where we live in a way that protects and nourishes our endangered earth;
where we have collaborative structures and practices;
where we communicate with openness and accountability.
https://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/our-diocese/
==================================
Divest or Invest? A Climate Change Question
Divestment from fossil fuel corporations is a common call of climate activists, but divesting could be counterproductive to efforts combating climate change.
=============================
1792 Bandon Mob Pillage Mill and Corn Stores of Mr. Biggs, Mr. Stawell, Kilbrittain Destroyed. Other Corn Merchants in Barryroe Destroyed. Mr. Pratt near Clonakilty and Mr. Crofts Burned. Potatoes Rotting in the Ground. Prudent not to Take any more...
==============================
Reflect
A Prayer for the New Year
Dear Lord, please give me….
A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;
A work to do which has real value, without which the world
would be the poorer;
A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed;
An understanding heart;
A sense of humor;
Time for quiet, silent meditation;
A feeling of the presence of God;
The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
with the wisdom to recognise them when they come.
===============================
Prayer to The Holy Family
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul;
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony;
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you;
Into Your hands, O God, I commend my spirit;
Lord Jesus, receive my soul. Amen
A Thought for the Turn of the Year
“As the year comes to a close, it is a time for reflection – a time to release old
thoughts and beliefs and forgive old hurts. Whatever has happened in the past year,
the New Year brings fresh beginnings. Exciting new experiences and relationships
await. Let us be thankful for the blessings of the past and the promises of the
future”. (Peggy Toney Horton)
===============================
Blessings for the week ahead
May your week ahead be filled with – Blessings of Good Health, Strength, Friendship, Kindness, Compassion & Love.
May God Bless you and your loved ones and keep you safe.
--------------------------------
JANUARY REMINDERS:
You can do anything – but Not Everything at the same time.
You don’t have to figure Everything out.
Restart as many times as needed.
Your Inner Peace is too expensive to be sacrificed.
Do more of what makes you forget about Time.
LAST WORD: Never promise when you are happy, never reply when
you are angry & never decide when you are sad.
================================
A NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan....
In our first reading this weekend we see Samuel lay sleeping when he first heard
someone calling his name. He ran to his mentor, but Eli was not calling him. So
Samuel returned to bed, only to hear the voice twice more. When Samuel
appeared at Eli’s bedside for the third time, the priest realised that it was the
Lord he had heard. The God who loves to speak to his people was now calling
Samuel. So he gave Samuel timeless advice: “Reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant
is Listening”. So the big question we can ask ourselves is: Are we listening to God’s
voice like Samuel. Are we putting ourselves in a position to be able to hear God?
Two things that come to my mind. 1. Stillness: I was told once that sheep cannot
drink from a water fall. We as humans can go to a tap or font and drink flowing
water, sheep can’t. They need to go to a still pond. We’re like that when it comes
to drinking in Gods life. We cannot approach God on the run, we need a still place
to pray. We need to stop and be present to God. Be still and know that I am God
(Psalm 46). 2. Quietness: C.S. Lewis In his writings Screwtapes explained how the
evil one temps people to fill their lives with noise so they’re unable to hear the
voice of God speaking to them. He wrote this in 1950. Imagine the evolution of
noise since. Televisions, video games, mobile phones, ear buds, iPods, iPads, the list
is endless. Maybe it’s time in your life to move into a still and quite place and tune
into the God who loved you into existence and ask him to speak to your inner self
and lead you to that place where He created you to be.
Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. (1 Samuel 3:9
===========================
Healing The Wounds Of The Heart
All of us are wounded by sin.
The part of us which is most deeply damaged by sin is the heart.
The heart is so beautiful, so innocent,
but it can be betrayed, scorned and broken.
Darkness of the heart is the blackest night of all.
Emptiness of the heart is the greatest poverty of all.
A heavy heart is the most wearisome burden of all.
A broken heart is the most painful wound of all.
Only love can heal the wounds of the heart.
Lord, send your Holy Spirit to us,
to heal the wounds of the heart,
so that we may produce the fruits of love.
=====================================
By: Jamie Linsley-Parrish
December 4, 2023
3 minutes
The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR.
The rise in societal awareness of issues such as climate change and social injustice has led to a commensurate rise in desire for companies to prove their commitment to being more ethical, more green, and more fair. However, a tension exists: in a capitalist society, companies are incentivized to maximize profit for their shareholders at all costs rather than comb their supply chain or spend capital on cutting carbon emissions. When public or investor pressure becomes too intense for companies to ignore, should they relent and lower their profit margins to benefit society or risk the reputational damage that could prove costly? A third, more sinister route has emerged: greenwashing.
https://daily.jstor.org/what-is-greenwashing/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
===============================
As the holidays draw near and the coldest days of the year start trickling in, the idea of warming up by the crackling flames of a picture-perfect fire is too alluring to resist. But without the right preparation, that ideal fire can turn into a room full of smoke accompanied by nothing more than a few wispy flames. A fireplace fire operates differently than your typical campfire, so it makes sense that building one should require a few tweaks to your standard procedure.
=======================
Father Michael Steltenkamp, SJ, an anthropologist and parish priest, has written several books and journal articles about Black Elk and has prepared biographical materials for the canonization process. For Steltenkamp, Nicholas Black Elk is a model for American Catholics.
Steltenkamp told CNA that “Black Elk Speaks” really only chronicled the first 25 years or so of Black Elk’s long, momentous life. Referring to its author, Steltenkamp said: “Neihardt reports that Black Elk was born in the Moon of the Topping Trees (December). In fact, Black Elk was born in the summertime, but he used Dec. 6 as his birthdate because that was the day he was baptized” in 1904.
“In his words, not mine, not some fundamentalist’s words,” Steltenkamp said, “he was born again.”
Dec. 6 is the feast day of St. Nicholas and was thus the name Black Elk took as he began a new life, Steltenkamp said.
===============================
Real Benefits
Despite a growing sense that probiotics do not offer anything of substance to individuals who are already healthy, researchers have documented some benefits for people with certain conditions.
In the past five years, for example, several combined analyses of dozens of studies have concluded that probiotics may help prevent some common side effects of treatment with antibiotics. Whenever physicians prescribe these medications, they know they stand a good chance of annihilating entire communities of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, along with whatever problem-causing microbes they are trying to dispel. Normally the body just needs to grab a few bacteria from the environment to reestablish a healthy microbiome. But sometimes the emptied niches get filled up with harmful bacteria that secrete toxins, causing inflammation in the intestine and triggering diarrhea. Adding yogurt or other probiotics—especially the kinds that contain Lactobacillus—during and after a course of antibiotics seems to decrease the chances of subsequently developing these opportunistic infections.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-probiotics-really-work/
==================================
GAA TG4 on 25 Jan 2024
The definitive GAA sports series returns to TG4 this spring for a 22nd series. The series hour-long format has proved a huge success, bringing each player's personal stories to screen. The series features eight Laochra with genuine star quality and reveals deeper, fresh, and sometimes unexpected insights into the lives of these icons. While their sporting careers continue to provide the backdrop to the story, the series travels well beyond the four white lines. Gripping personal storylines will compel viewers to travel towards territory unique to the GAA television landscape. (The names of all eight Laochra Gael's will be revealed on 15/1/24)
===============================
Weekly Newsletter
Last Sunday after Pentecost
26th November 2023
Dear Friends of Sacred Heart Church,
The Mass for today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, is a prayer of thanksgiving for the year that is ending, and one of propitiation for that which is about to begin; it is a reminder that the present life is fleeting, and an invitation to keep ourselves in readiness for the final step. In the Epistle, St. Paul prays and gives thanks in the name of all Christians: “We. . . cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. . .that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work.” This is a beautiful synthesis of the task which the interior soul has endeavoured to accomplish during the whole year: to adapt and conform itself to God’s holy will, to unite itself to it completely, and, being moved in all things by that divine will alone, to act in such a manner as to please Our Lord in everything. God be praised if, thanks to His help, we have succeeded in advancing some steps along that road which most surely leads to holiness. Making our own the sentiments of the Apostle, we should give thanks to “the Father who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.” The lot, the inheritance of the saints, of those who tend toward holiness, is union of love with God—here below in faith, hereafter in glory. This heritage is ours because Jesus has merited it for us by His Blood, and because in Jesus “we have redemption, the remission of sins”; thus, cleansed from sin and clothed in grace by His infinite merits, we also can ascend to that very lofty and blessed state of union with God.
If, with God’s help, we have succeeded in making some progress, there still remains more and greater work to be done. The Church, therefore, has us ask in the Collect: “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people, that by more earnestly seeking the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness.” So it is: the more we correspond to grace, the greater the graces Our Lord will grant us; the more we press on toward Him, the more He will draw us to Himself, so that the result of this continuous interplay of the divine assistance and our correspondence will be the sanctification of each one of us.
Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year and next week begin all over again with the beautiful season of Advent, in preparation of the coming of Our Lord. Just a reminder that the Novena Mass for the Holy Souls goes on until this Thursday (30th). We were glad to see several people yesterday at the blessing of the grave of the Jesuits in Mungret. With gratitude, let us pray for the souls of the Jesuits for their service to God in Limerick.
Our heartfelt congratulations to Anthony and Natasha Lacken who got married at the Sacred Heart Church last Friday. Please keep them in your prayers so that they lead a holy life together.
Canon Ong has to go to Italy this week. At his return to Ireland he will be heading straight to Belfast where he has been assigned this year to assist Canon Heppelle. We will certainly get a chance to see him back in Limerick from time to time.
You may have heard that Canon Lebocq celebrated his 20th anniversary of ordination this year. The exact date was July 4th, which as you know is usually a very busy period during the year. It is however never too late to thank God. The Te Deum, the hymn of thanksgiving, will be sung during benediction after the Solemn High Mass.
Lastly, the 2024 Irish calendar has been sent to the printer. Hopefully it will be available at the beginning of Advent.
Canon Lebocq
Prior of Sacred Heart Church
=================================
Reflections
Blessing of the Advent Wreath
Lord God,
Your Church joyfully awaits the coming of its Savior,
who enlightens our hearts
and dispels the darkness of ignorance and sin.
Pour forth your blessings upon us
as we light the candles of this wreath ;
may their light reflect the splendour of Christ,
who is Lord, for ever and ever. Amen.
-----------------------------------------
FRIDAY 8TH DECEMBER Feast of the Immaculate Conception. –
Holy Day of Obligation.
COP28 – AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION BY POPE FRANCIS:
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28 – Nov. 30th – 12th Dec.
in Dubai (UAE). It is a formal meeting to negotiate and agree action on how to tackle climate change, limit emissions and halt global warming.
PRAYER FOR THE SUCCESS OF COP 28.
We ask you, Heavenly Father, to guide the political leaders gathered for this occasion so that they may be moved by the suffering of the poor as well as today's and tomorrow's victims of climate injustice. Inspire them to take effective action for the poor and suffering of our world. Let us pray to the Lord.
LAST WORD: A smile is the most beautiful accessory you can wear. It has the power to change someone’s state of being. Don’t ever let anyone take your smile away.
=======================================
Irish History 1916 through to 1923
The bloodiest Bloody Sunday
It was probably after the killing of a man named John Lynch, shot on his bed in the Exchange Hotel in the middle of the night of 23th September, 1920, that the IRA Intelligence became aware of the activities of a group of British secret agents in Dublin - what was to be later known as the Cairo Gang. Lynch was a Sinn Féin loan organizer with no connections with the military side of the movement and may have been mistaken for the successful Cork guerilla leader Liam Lynch.
The effort made by the British military intelligence to halt the advance of the Irish guerilla - mainly the policy of assassinations carried by the Squad, the elite unit attached to the IRA Intelligence department - started with the arrival of Colonel Ormond D’Epée Winter in May. He was in charge of military intelligence and organized a network of ex-British officers used to this work to counter the counter-intelligence operation led by the IRA. They started their very own “murder gang” - and by the time of Lynch’s death they were getting closer.
But Michael Collins, the IRA Director of Intelligence, wasn’t a helpless target. By 5th October he had already in his hands all information about how a group of military and RIC killed Lynch. “There is not the slightest doubt that there was no intention whatever to arrest Mr Lynch”, said the report he sent on the subject to the acting president Arthur Griffith. He was by then receiving informations from his trusted agent right inside the military command in the Castle - known only as Lt. G. Today it’s known that the military title was actually a short form for “Little Gentleman”, and that hidden behind it there was a woman, Lily Mernin, a typist on the Garrison Adjutant’s office. She was able to provide a great deal of information to identify the members of the “Cairo Gang”. Another source was Sergeant Mannix of the DMP station at Donnybrook. Other information came from talkative secretaries, a drunken agent with a heavy conscience about Lynch’s killing, and even a housemaid who was unknowingly flirting with Vinny Byrne, one of the top Squad men.
Things weren’t going too well by then. On September, a British spy managed to get close to the Sinn Féin leadership in order to get Collins, but he was exposed by Griffith in front of a group of reporters. On 11th October, the military gang managed to track down Seán Treacy and Dan Breen in Drumcondra; Breen was severely wounded in the ensuing fight, and Treacy managed to escape, but was killed three days later on Talbot Street. On 25th October, Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, died on hunger strike. About the same time an account of the torture committed after the arrest of Tom Hales, commandant of the Third Cork Brigade, arrived on the hands of Collins. The four men were his personal friends.
The last straw was the execution of 18-years-old Kevin Barry on 1st November, followed by the arrest of some of the higher-rank members of the intelligence department. Liam Tobin and Tom Cullen managed to fool their captors, but Frank Thornton was held by ten days. Neither was identified. On 10th November, the IRA Chief of Staff, Richard Mulcahy, had a close shave and had to escape of the house he was sleeping through a skylight. It was enough. “Arrangements should now be made about the matter”, wrote Collins to the commandant of the Dublin Brigade, Dick McKee, on 17th November. The date of 21th November, a Sunday, was chosen to take advantage of the Gaelic football game scheduled to that afternoon.
On Saturday night, Collins, Mulcahy, McKee, the Vice-Brigadier Peadar Clancy and others met with the Minister of Defense, Cathal Brugha, to settle the last arrangements. Brugha personally analyzed the list of men that were to be shot. He found there was little evidence about some of them and reduced the list from 35 to about 25 names. They were to be shot in their lodgings scattered around Dublin on Sunday morning, precisely at 9 AM.
At least 100 IRA members, divided in around 15 units, took part of the job - not only the Squad, but also Intelligence officers like Charlie Dalton, and men drawn from the several Dublin battalions, like the future Taoiseach Seán Lemass. Things ran as planned, and in the end 19 men were shot - 15 dead, 4 wounded. Only one IRA man was arrested - Frank Teeling. He was sentenced to death, but managed to escape in February 1921.
Not all the targets were home. Two of them, Auxiliary division Captains Hardy and King, were called early in the morning to the Castle to interrogate three suspects arrested in the previous night. They were no less than McKee and Clancy, who were betrayed by an informer and arrested in their lodgings at Gloucester (now Sean MacDermott) Street, along with an innocent Gaelic League enthusiast, Conor Clune. At the moment of the shooting, both captains were torturing the prisoners in the Castle. On that night, all three were shot dead.
Collins tried to get the game in Croke Park cancelled, but the organizers thought it was too late and proceeded with it. As a result, a group of Auxiliaries and RIC, “excited and out of hand”, according to their own commander, entered the field and started shooting randomly for 90 seconds, killing 14 persons, including a player and three children. In the end, 32 individuals lost their lives on the bloodiest of the Irish Bloody Sundays.
Adriana Moura
=====================
Irish History 1916 through to 1923
pnoestSrodm3er6 16eau0091421v9fu6g3,7b188f505ml1N2o820tg71f · Dublin ·
Did You Know?
Prior to the opening of Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, Catholics had nowhere to bury their dead due to the repressive Penal Laws. It was Daniel O' Connell who campaigned for the establishment of a burial ground in which both Catholics and Protestants could bury their dead with dignity.
So it was then, that on February 22nd, 1832, the small coffin of Michael Carey, a young boy from Francis Street in Dublin, was placed into a little patch of ground on Dublin's northside. From such humble beginnings arose a national cemetery, which,so far, has become the resting place of over one million people.
Glasnevin now covers over 124 acres and is the last resting place of such famous people as Daniel O'Connell himself, Michael Collins and his fiancée, Kitty Kiernan, Newmarket born, John Philpott Curran, Charles Stewart Parnell, Kevin Barry, Brendan Behan, Harry Boland, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington to mention just a few.
The cemetery contains over 800,000 unmarked graves. Daniel O' Connell wanted the poor of Dublin to have a burial place so the funerals of those with no money came from the Magdalene Laundries, the Union and the Workhouses and the poor from the tenements of Dublin.
Life was cheap in the tenements. The buildings themselves were structural death traps. It was said that even driving a nail in a wall could cause the wall to collapse. With all cooking, cleaning and heating done in the same room on an open fire of turf or coal, the risk of fire was huge. Diseases such as TB, diphtheria, smallpox, respiratory problems and typhoid caused thousands of deaths. Children had no shoes and walked in the mud and filth of the streets and often gangrene set in on cut feet. There were no drugs such as penicillin and having a diet of mostly bread and tea, they were unable to withstand such attacks and often these simple cuts proved fatal.
At this time, the poverty, injustice and hardship in Dublin was unparalleled in any other European city See less
https://www.facebook.com/1916risingirishcivilwar
=================================
“What is the dude, papa?” she said, with sweet, inquiring eyes,
And to the knowledge seeking maid, her daddy thus replies:
A weak mustache, a cigarette, a thirteen button vest,
A curled rim hat—a minaret—two watch chains cross the breast.
A pair of bangs, a lazy drawl, a lackadaisy air;
For gossip at the club or ball, some little past ‘affair.’
Two pointed shoes, two spindle shanks, complete the nether charms;
And follow fitly in the ranks, the two bow legged arms.
An empty head, a buffoon’s sense, a poising attitude;
“By Jove” “Egad!” “But aw” “Immense!” All these make up the dude.
==================================
Derek Thompson
@DKThomp
I'm mildly obsessed with this Q: Why did most of Europe industry whiff on the tech revolution?
Look at the largest US vs. EU companies by market cap.
- America: computers, computers, computers, computers, computers, computers
- Europe: ozempic, luxury bags and jewelry, lotions
https://twitter.com/DKThomp/status/1716772436652282136
-----------------------------------------------------------
CLEAN Tech Canada; A report commissioned by the federal government revealed that Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has been violating its contribution agreement with the federal government, distributing tens of millions of taxpayers dollars inappropriately.
Furthermore, SDTC board members and executives were incentivised with big bonuses to erroneously distribute these taxpayer dollars with little oversight, the report found.
https://tnc.news/2023/10/24/clean-tech-agency-taxpayer-dollars/
--------------------------------------------
These Are the Longest Flights in the World
=================================
What’s the deal with plastic and climate change?
Plastics fall into a class of materials called petrochemicals, meaning they’re made using fossil fuels. The category also includes products like fertilizers and laundry detergents.
Related Story
Kid surrounded by bins and scattered plastic containers proudly holds up a toy figure constructed by plastic parts
Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again.
Plastic is cheap to make and shockingly profitable. It’s everywhere. And we’re all paying the price.
Fossil fuels are used as a feedstock, or starting ingredient, in plastics production, and they are also used for energy to power the manufacturing process. Plastic made up around 6% of global oil demand as of 2014, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.
That number could get much worse, and fast. Plastic consumption could nearly triple by 2060. Add all that up, and plastics could make up 20% of global oil demand or more by 2050.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/19/1081856/plastic-climate/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
==============================
Indeed, the scale of the problem is hard to internalize. To date, humans have created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic. This amount surpasses the biomass of all animals, both terrestrial and marine, according to a 2020 study published in Nature.
Currently, about 430 million tons of plastic is produced yearly, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/12/1081129/plastic-recycling-climate-change-microplastics/
====================================
Reflect
JTA) — Abraham saw a world that was burning. A vivid midrash on this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1 – 17:27) recounts the story of how the Jewish patriarch first encountered God. Abraham saw the world as a bira doleket, a flaming tower, and demanded indignantly, “Is there no one in charge?!” At this, God shows his face and admits, “I am the one in charge.” Thus begins Abraham’s relationship with the divine.
Like Abraham before us, we too gaze out at a burning world. Our eyes have taken in so much devastation and horror. In the last few weeks we have all been witness to many burning buildings. We too cry out that no one is in charge. We too long for God to show up and take some ownership of the situation.
This midrash paints a picture of divine relationship that emerges from a place of shock and indignation. God shows up in the world because Abraham demands it. The world without God’s presence is untenable, it will burn itself out. Abraham won’t let that happen. He holds God accountable, reminding God that the ruler of the universe needs to act like it.
================================
FEAST: Saint John Paul II – Feast Day 22nd October. Karol Wojtyla, taking the name John
Paul II, was pope from 22nd October 1978 until his death on 2nd April 2005. Born in
Wadowice, Poland on 18th May 1920, he studied at the seminary in Krakow, was
ordained a priest in 1946 and then studied in Rome. After parish work and university
chaplaincy he again undertook further studies in philosophy and theology. He was
ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Krakow in 1958, in 1964 archbishop, and in 1967 he
was created a cardinal. He took part in the Second Vatican Council, making a
significant contribution to the drafting of the document Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World. As Bishop of Rome he visited almost all of the Roman
parishes and made apostolic journeys to over 100 countries, including Ireland from
29th September to 1st October 1979. He played a major role in the collapse of
Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He suffered from
Parkinson’s Disease for many years before his death in 2005. He was beatified on 1st
May 2011 and canonized on 27th April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday. His feast day is
observed on the anniversary of his inauguration as Pope on 22nd October 1978.
-----------------------
Reflect
Memories remind us that nothing lasts forever. We could be happy today and sad tomorrow. Time is precious and should not be wasted, enjoy life and remember don’t count your days - make your days count.
LAST WORD: If you tell the truth it becomes a part of your past..if you tell a lie it becomes a part of your future.
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The amendment fell under a motion that requires all taxicabs and rideshares to operate zero-emissions vehicles by 2031.
The number of licenced drivers may not surpass the amount currently in operation as of October 2023 “in order to manage current levels of greenhouse gas emissions in vehicle-for-hire industry,” reads the motion.
Uber said it will oppose the measure, saying it would increase wait time and make transportation less affordable.
“This will increase wait times and the cost of a safe and reliable transportation option for so many while important transit projects are delayed and the cost of purchasing a vehicle has increased almost 50 per cent in four years,” said Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang.
https://tnc.news/2023/10/14/uber-toronto-cap/
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No more right-to-shelter rule in NYC? Mayor Eric Adams has asked a judge to let him suspend New York City's right-to-shelter mandate (also called the Callahan consent decree) under an influx of migrants. Adams is arguing that the spike in migrants expecting public services constitutes an emergency, which warrants suspending the policy.
"With more than 122,700 asylum seekers having come through our intake system since the spring of 2022, and projected costs of over $12 billion for three years, it is abundantly clear that the status quo cannot continue," Adams declared in a statement.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtxTBWVpKhBvcWqMHzcLKCVCJF
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TRASH: Turns out, it still isn’t. A May 14, 2022 Star story quoted one John Mullinder, who spent 30 years in the recycling industry, calling the whole thing “a little green lie”. Little? The same piece quoted “the plastics program manager” at an NGO called Environmental Defence, who said, “(Recycling) is just a one way ticket to garbage.”
The same story says that in 2019, Canada produced 1.9 million tonnes of plastics. Of that amount, just 12 per cent went for recycling, and an even smaller percentage was processed into a new product.
https://tnc.news/2023/10/03/varley-recycling-is-a-myth1/
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What is truth? Who is man? Who are we? And where are we going?
The first of these questions was asked by Pontius Pilate in his native Latin: Quid est veritas? It was asked of Jesus Christ. He refrained from answering Pilate directly but gave the answer to his disciples.
What is truth?
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!”
We can leave aside, for the purposes of the present discussion, what Christ means when he states definitively that he is the way and the life. But he does state definitively that he is the truth. The first question is, therefore, answered.
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Ever since we did our in-depth series about the seasons of a man’s life (truly some of the most interesting articles we’ve written — I highly recommend reading them!), I’ve continued to think about human development, particularly in adulthood. Most books and articles on development focus on the transition between childhood and adolescence and adolescence to adulthood. People act as if no development happens after age twenty-five, which is weird. And certainly not the case!
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Dingle Food Festival 1 October2023
Published 1 Oct 2023
https://youtu.be/RMHozc0eAVw
=======================
Video link
https://youtu.be/GGXdwZ8vFHE
Filename
Food Festival Dingle 2023.mp4
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Video link
https://youtu.be/tKFAKw3-bk4
Filename
Knockanure Tractor Day 2023.wmv
=================================
Reflect
Just came across these few lines which I thought were nice so here goes——
If you’re walking past a stranger who you think is looking sad,
Are you brave enough to say hello for that person might be glad,
That you’ve taken just a moment to brighten up their day,
It might lift them from gloomy thoughts as you carry on your way.
Just that little gesture will warm that persons heart,
And you can go home knowing that today you’ve played your part
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Girls who have supportive fathers in their lives tend to thrive more academically compared to girls lacking a supportive dad. Studies show that dads tend to encourage their daughters to push and challenge themselves academically more than moms do. Moreover, when dads regularly help their daughters with their homework, those daughters are less anxious about school. Mom’s help with homework has no significant impact on academic-related anxiety.
The influence a dad has on a daughter’s academic success carries over into college. Daughters with close relationships with their fathers have higher grade point averages in college than those with poor father-daughter relationships.
Be an involved dad when it comes to your daughter’s schooling. Help her with homework. Attend parent-teacher conferences. Encourage her to push herself and praise her when she excels.
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“Fast fashion” is the moment right now thanks in part to Instagram and influencer culture. Oftentimes fast fashion brands will copy ideas from high-end or celebrity brands and sell their “dupes” for a fraction of the cost. But what about the “someone” who made that dirt-cheap outfit for us? A recent investigation by the Department of Labor found that garment workers receive some of the lowest wages on the planet, with one manufacturer paying their workers $1.58/hour — significantly lower than any state’s minimum wage. Environmental author Ronald Geyer found that no major clothing brand pays its garment workers in Asia, Africa, Central America, or Eastern Europe enough money to climb out of actual poverty.
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PROLOGUE: This was written by an old lady in a geriatric ward in a hospital. After she died, it was found among her possessions by a nurse. All of those who have dealings with old people should ponder on what the old lady wrote: " What do you see, nurses, what do you see? What are you looking at when you look at me? A crabbed old woman, not very wise - uncertain in habit with faraway eyes. Who dribbles her food and makes no reply when you say in a loud voice - I do wish you'd try. Who seems not to notice the things that you do and is forever losing that stocking or shoe. Who unresisting or not, lets you do as you will, with bathing and feeding - the long day to fill. Is that what your're thinking? Is that what you see? Then, open your euyes, Nurse, you're not looking at me. I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still, as I move at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of 10 with a father and mother, brothers and sisters who love one another. A girl of 16 with wings on her feet - dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet. A bride soon at 20 - my heart gives a leap. Remembering the vows that I promised to keep. At 25 now, I have young of my own, who need me to build a secure happy home. A woman of 30 my young grow fast, bound to each other with love that should last. At 40, my young sons have grown and are gone but my man is beside me to see that I don't mourn. At 50, once more, babies play around my knee - again, we have children, my husband and I. Dark days are upon me - my husband is dead, I look to the future, I shudder with dread. For my young are all rearing young of their own and I think of the years and the love I have shown. I'm an old woman now and nature is cruel - 'tis her jest to make old age look a fool. , The body, it crumbles, grace and vigour depart - there is a stone now, where once I had a heart. But inside this old carcase - a young girl still dwells and now and again my battered heart swells. I remember the joys - I remember the pain and I'm loving and living life all over again.
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Back then—this was the spring of 1979—Moore was a young industrial designer living in New York City and working at Raymond Loewy Associates, the famous designer of everything from NASA’s Skylab space station to home appliances. At a planning meeting one afternoon, Moore mentioned that, growing up, she’d seen her arthritic grandmother struggle to open refrigerators. She suggested creating a fridge door that unlatched with ease. “Pattie,” a senior colleague told her, “we don’t design for those people.” The firm’s target users were middle-aged male professionals. Moore fumed at the injustice, to say nothing of the lost business opportunity. But, she thought, who was she to advocate on behalf of elderly consumers? Moore had never struggled to open anything. She left the meeting frustrated, with a feeling she couldn’t shake: If she could understand what it was like to be old, she could develop better products. Not just for elders, but for everybody.
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Science
https://www.wired.com/category/science/
=================
“It struck me that Earth observation satellites are essentially telescopes pointed down,” he says. “Looking at a galaxy is similar to looking at a field of grass or wheat. You’ve got your observations telling you something about the physical properties.”
https://www.wired.com/story/this-startup-wants-to-give-farmers-a-closer-look-at-crops-from-space/
By: Aissa Dearing- August 10, 2023
Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration released an ambitious strategy to better understand nature’s contributions to the economy and therefore guide decision-making on land-use issues.
As economist Dieter Helm explains, natural capital, a way of folding natural resources into the mainstream economy, puts nature “on the balance sheet” by assigning a monetary value to ecosystem services. These services are some of nature’s best gifts to humanity, including carbon sequestration, natural hazard defense, and water and air quality regulation. Beyond ecosystem services, nature provides provisioning services (such as timber, foodstuffs, and fuel) as well as cultural and spiritual value for local communities.
=======================
Reflect
We are wounded by sin.
The part of us which is most
deeply damaged by sin is the heart.
The heart is so beautiful, so innocent,
but it can be betrayed, scorned and broken.
Darkness of the heart is the blackest night of all.
Emptiness of the heart is the greatest poverty of all.
A heavy heart is the most wearisome burden of all.
A broken heart is the most painful wound of all.
Only love can heal the wounds of the heart.
Lord, send your Holy Spirit to us,
to heal the wounds of our hearts,
so that we may produce the fruits of love.
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The Story of Knock
At about 8 o'clock on the Thursday evening of 21st August 1879, the Blessed Virgin
Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist appeared at the South gable of the
Church at Knock, Co Mayo. Beside them and a little to the right was an altar with a
cross and the figure of a lamb around which angels hovered. There were fifteen
official witnesses to the apparition – young and old – who watched it for two hours
in pouring rain and recited the Rosary. Two Commissions of Enquiry accepted their
testimony as trustworthy and satisfactory in 1879 and 1936.
Today, Knock ranks among the world’s major Marian Shrines, having enjoyed the full
approval of the Church for many years. It has received privileges from five Popes and
the most recent privileges were the visit of His Holiness, Pope Saint John Paul II, on
30th September 1979 and the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis on 26th August 2018.
------------------------
If you are not actively involved in getting what you want, then you don’t really want it.
We are often so caught up in our destination that we forget to appreciate the journey, especially the goodness of the people we meet on the way.
Appreciation is a wonderful feeling – don’t overlook it.
You don’t know what other people are thinking, no more than other people know what you are thinking. If you want people to know what you are thinking, tell them. If you want to know what others are thinking – ask them. It takes courage to both speak and hear the truth.
The person waiting for something to turn up, might well start with their shirtsleeves!!
The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth.
----------------------------
Be someone who listens, you will be heard.
Be someone who cares, you will be loved.
Be someone who gives, you will be blessed.
Be someone who comforts, you will know peace.
Be someone who understands, you will be wise.
Be someone who loves, you will be happy.
Be someone who values truth, you will be respected.
Be someone who takes action, you will move life forward.
Be someone who lifts others higher, your life will be rich.
Be someone filled with gratitude, and there will be no end to the things
for which you will be thankful.
Be someone who lives with joy and purpose and your own light will brightly shine.
Be in every moment the special someone you are meant to be. BE YOURSELF.
What have you always wanted to do - Go for it now!!
LAST WORD: It is far better to be alone than in bad company.
========================
Prayer to Our Lady of Knock
Our Lady of Knock Queen of Ireland,
you gave hope to your people in a time of distress
and comforted them in sorrow.
You have inspired countless pilgrims to pray with confidence to your Son,
remembering his promise;
‘Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. ’
Help me to remember that we are all pilgrims on the road to heaven.
Fill me with love and concern for my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially
those who live with me.
Comfort me when I am sick or lonely or depressed.
Teach me how to take part ever more reverently in the Holy Mass.
Pray for me now, and at the hour of my death. Amen.
Our Lady of Knock, pray for us
----------------------
NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan.....
When I celebrate weddings I’d offer the couple getting married a crucifix which
they would hold as they exchange their wedding vows and read to them the
blessing which comes with it. Most go for it gladly. That might come as a surprise
to some because when you think of a crucifix one would think of Good Friday or
the suffering of our Saviour or the season of Lent and so on but not marriage!!
But on closer examination you will see that the Cross is the greatest symbol of
love there is. In the Book the Love Dare by Kendrick in chapter 10 which is called
‘Love is Unconditional’. Here is a piece from it - ‘If anyone asked you ‘Why do you
love your husband?" Or why do you love your wife what would you say? Most men
would mention their wives beauty, her sense of humour, her kindness, or her inner
strength. They might talk about her cooking, her knack for decorating, or what a
good mother she is. Women would probably say something about their husbands
good looks or his personality. They'd commend him for his steadiness and
consistent character. They'd say they love him because he's always there for
them. He's generous. He's helpful. But what if over the course of years, your wife
or husband stopped being every one of these things. Would you still love them?
Based on your answers above, the only logical response would be "no." If your
reasons for loving your spouse all have something to do with his or her qualities
and then those same qualities suddenly or gradually disappear--your basis for love
is over. The only way love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. The truth is:
lasting love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one
choosing to love. Relationships are dysfunctional when individuals within a
relationship thinks about themselves first. For example sayings like - does this
suit me? What’s in it for me? I must put myself first! The Crucifix shows Jesus
with arms opened wide in generosity. This is my body given up for you. He died for
us while we were still sinners as St. Paul says. There’s nothing in it for Him. It’s a
decision of the Will for our good. It’s only couples who together embrace the
cross and its ideology can choose to love each other in this sacrificial way. Of
course it takes two to live in this way. But without Christ and His Cross true
unconditional love is near impossible to live. I’d like to take this opportunity to
congratulate all the couples this weekend celebrating significant anniversaries for
2023 and well done for those years of dying to self.
===================
Just a Thought
NOTHING is as contagious as an EXAMPLE. We never do great food or great evil without bringing about more of the same on the part of others. At onetime or another, in great ways or small you are an example, a role model, even and inspiration for others. This is true even when you’re unaware of the impact you are having. You make a difference by the way you handle personal crisis, treat a child, do your job, and spend your spare time. It’s natural that most people influence family and friends, neighbours, and co-workers. But it doesn’t end there. Touch one person’s life and countless others are affected. Young people in particular are likely to imitate not just what others say, but what they do. Whether you’re young or old sick or healthy, rich, or poor, you can be an example for good in the way you live your life. It is important to recognise your value. You can make the world a better place for having been in it. Ann Conroy
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Reflect
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
I know that I complain a lot but I suppose it is the ageing process that lets us see things in a more critical light. Noreen’s father Jack Hannon, God be good to him, once said: “being old is great because you can say what you like”. Maybe there is a bit of Victor Meldrew in all of us but I am the lucky one because I have this platform to air my views. This week I am taking issue with the media, and RTE in particular, for the way in which they cover tragic events. The latest was a terrible car crash in Clones when two beautiful young girls, on their way to a debs ball, lost their lives. You would want to be made of stone not to be moved by that news and, rightly, it was reported in the papers and on the airwaves. I have no problem with that; it is the invasion of privacy that I object to. The cameras hone in on the site of the crash and there is then a kind of a formula they follow. A reporter on the spot interviews the local priest then a politician, local teacher and then a few random neighbours to get their thoughts on what has happened. Fair enough, but then they continue to report on the accident for the rest of the week, especially when it comes to the funerals. This is what I object to most of all. The families of the crash victims need privacy and time to mourn their loved ones, not have their every move followed by a camera. It is bordering on the ghoulish and we, the viewers, have no right to be witnessing their most trying times. I don’t think it is right to have cameras at any funeral, it only panders to those amongst us who have a morbid interest in tragic events. Some may say that it is news and we have a right to see it but I disagree. It can be shown discretely without panning in on mourner’s faces at a time when they are most vulnerable. I don’t suppose anyone will take much notice of what I am saying but I would appeal to RTE to show a bit more tact and respect when covering tragic events.
This past weekend was the August Bank Holliday and it was good to see a bit of local activity. We had a bit of craic down by the bridge on Saturday evening when the local Comhaltas branch put on a bit of open air entertainment in the pagoda. The sound of music filled the air and there was a great smell from Jack Quaid’s Bar-B-Cue down by the river. We were extremely lucky with the weather which was dodgy up to the last minute but stayed dry for the duration of the performance. There was a good crowd in attendance and the reaction was very favourable so we will probably do it again next year. On Sunday I went playing golf in Ardagh as usual and when I was coming home I passed through Carrigkerry. There was a great buzz around the place and a big crowd in attendance for the Vintage Rally. Moore’s car park was full of vintage tractors and cars of all shapes and sizes. The road was lined with cars and the shop was doing a roaring trade. I came on to Athea and drove into another carnival atmosphere. The bikers had their get-together and there were stalls all over the place. The fine weather brought out the crowds and I’m sure the local businesses had a great time. It was so good to see life in the locality. We were starved of it during Covid but, at long last, things seem to be back to normal. Long may it last.
Was the weather better long ago? That is a question I am often asked and my immediate answer is yes. Sometimes we look on the past with rose coloured glasses only remembering the good bits but, if we look at the facts, the weather must have been better. If my memory serves me I believe we had more balanced weather; colder winters and more sunshine in the summer. We seemed to get snow and frost around Christmas and January/February. The old people welcomed this because it was supposed to get rid of all impurities and prepare for the season of growth. They also believed it was good for the health, killing off dangerous bugs. It was normal to wake in the morning and see the “Christmas trees” formed by the frost on the windows. There was no central heating in those days but we didn’t take too much notice. It was normal for us and we compensated for the cold by wearing layers of clothes and of course we had plenty exercise to get the blood flowing. As we went through spring the weather got milder and the gardens were set. 1st of April was the official day for throwing off the shoes and they stayed off until the end of September. I don’t ever remember a time when we couldn’t do that because of the weather but for the last few years we have had hard frost in April so things have changed. The summers had to be better too because the hay had to be saved, no silage in those days, and it was all done by hand. If we had weather back then, like we have had for the past month or more, the hay couldn’t possibly have been turned, shook out made into grasscocks and eventually into wynds but apart from on very rare occasions it was always ready for drawing in by the end of July. There is no doubt that the world is changing and weather is going to become more unpredictable. Too much rain or too much drought will play havoc with tillage farming and there is a real danger of a scarcity of food in the not too distant future. People say we must reverse global warming but I think the damage is already done. We will have to get used to more extreme weather with droughts followed by floods. Even now some land along the Shannon is under water. All we can do is hope that some change will come and we can continue
https://www.athea.ie/2023/08/news-8-8-23/
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Seeing with Faith
While Caleb has a faith-based perspective, the other spies in today's reading have a fear-based perspective and spread this fear across the people of Israel. To enter heaven, you must have a divine perspective led by faith.
Murmuring Against the Lord
The teaching and truth of God's Word is not relative or up for interpretation. In the reading today, the actions of Miriam and Aaron expose the temptation to question the authority God has given to others.
The Gifts God Has Given
Today's readings offer insight into ingratitude and thanksgiving. Consider how you can grow in gratitude and see the gifts the Lord has given you.
The Glory of Christ
On the feast of the Transfiguration, Christ unveiled his true nature. Contemplate Jesus' Transfiguration and the present glory he has from the Father.
God's Graciousness
The Jubilee Year in the Old Testament is a year of release, which institutes the fruits of the Exodus. The Jubilee then becomes an internal exodus, freeing the people again from poverty and slavery.
St. John Vianney
St. John Vianney's priestly role was to offer up the sacrifice of Christ to the Father on behalf of his parishioners, bringing union between God and his flock. Ask for the intercession of this great saint and pray for priests today.
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St. Francis Xavier
Tucked in a corner of the party capital of India, the mostly-incorruptible body of Goencho Saib (Lord of Goa), otherwise known as St. Francis Xavier, is on display in the right trancept of the Bom Jesus church in the old Portuguese center of town. The body was originally transported back to Goa in a lime-slake, from which his body miraculously emerged unmolested. He was placed on view in a raised reliquary, with annual festivals, where, up until recently, pilgrims had the opportunity to kiss the exposed, miraculously mummified feet of the saint. The open air was hard on the body, and religious zeal for the relic has taken its toll as well. Reportedly in 1554 an overzealous worshipper bit off the the pinky toe of his right foot, which then purportedly gushed blood as if from a living body. Later, in 1614, by order of the church, his right arm was severed at the elbow and brought to Rome.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/body-st-francis-xavier
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1909 Bantry Feis. Patrons include Canon (Church of Ireland) O’Grady, James Gilhooley, M.P., Tim Healy King’s Counsel,M.P., Maurice Healy, M.P., The Earl of Kenmare, Magistrates, Dr. O’Mahony, Benjamin O’Connor, M. O’Driscoll, William Martin Murphy, Alexander Martin Sullivan, King’s Counsel, Dr. M. J. McCarthy, Patrick (Rocky Mountain) O’Brien, Dromore. Prizewinners, Industrial Section.
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Largest Empire in History
By Thomas J. Craughwell
Explore the Mongol Empire — which once ruled over 110 million people — in this riveting read that explores the state’s origins in Central Asia, the reign of Genghis Khan, and beyond. “Great, sweeping history from a superb writer” (Joseph Cummins).
=========================
The California Department of Education (CDE) is trying to stop two professors from testifying about COVID-era educational policies. The professors, Sean Reardon and Thomas Dee, were asked to testify on behalf of students who are suing over the state's pandemic education policies. That case is Cayla J. v. State of California.
https://twitter.com/KevinKileyCA/status/1686111056828272640
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By Peter Jesserer Smith
ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) — Nearly 2,300 members of the Knights of Columbus, spouses and family members gathered together from all parts of the globe Aug. 1-3 in Orlando under the theme “First in faith and charity.”
But the unmistakable, uplifting message of the 141st Supreme Convention from start to finish was the power of each Knight — all 2 million in the order — to transform the church and the world around them by deepening their faith as disciples of Jesus Christ and living out a charity that evangelizes.
“We too can do great things, if we allow the Lord into our lives,” Bishop John G. Noonan of Orlando
==========================
Five little-known inventors of the Victorian era
Tuesday 8 August 2023 | Katherine Howells
The nineteenth century was a time of incredible innovation in Britain.
https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/five-little-known-inventors-of-the-victorian-era/
====================
Every morning, she gets the kids fed and dressed, helps them log onto their virtual classrooms, and then tries to sneak away to work on the podcast she’s trying to launch. “I was taking charge of all the distance learning because my husband makes more money than me, so it seemed to make sense that before I started work, I would sit down and do their schoolwork with them,” Morlan says.
But of course, her sons needed a lot more from her than just a little help in the morning. By 11am, Morlan would typically finally “go to work for real” in her bedroom
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We often suppose that wars are fought over things like resources, border disputes, and ideologies. My guest calls this “the spreadsheet approach to war” and argues that, in reality, such factors only come in as justifications for the much deeper drives at play.
=======================
Jonah McKeown
By Jonah McKeown
St. Louis, Mo., Aug 1, 2023 / 08:45 am
The Biden administration is expected to pay $65,000 after attempting in 2021 to exclude fertility awareness-based family planning methods, a form of natural family planning, from health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.
The faith-based legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced July 27 that a federal court has ordered the Biden administration to pay $65,000 in attorneys’ fees for violating regulatory laws when it attempted to end insurance coverage for fertility awareness methods, leaving women with only coverage for contraceptive and abortifacient drugs and devices.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had in December 2021, without explanation, removed “fertility awareness-based methods” (FABM) from the list of “preventative care and screenings” covered under the Affordable Care Act. The language allowing FABM had been in place since 2016.
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General O’Donovan
Durrushistory- Jul 30
Death of General O’Donovan, Bawnlahan, Skibbereen, West Cork, 1829. ‘The late much regretted General O’Donovan was one of the very few proprietors of this County of the aboriginal Milesian Estate, held by his ancestors from time Immemorial. The General, was , we believe, the first of his family to drop the usual designation of an Irish Chieftain of being address as ‘The O’Donovan’ only. In Smith’s History of Cork 1750 he says ‘In this Parish of Miros (Myross) is Bawnlaghan the seat of O’Donovan, Chief of that Ancient Family, a worthy and courteous gentleman. The General was son of Daniel O’Donovan, of Bawnlahan by Jane daughter of Colonel John Becher of Hollybrook (near Skibbereen), grandson of Richard O’Donovan of Bawnlahanby the daughter of Fitz-Gerald, Knight of Kerry and great grandson of Daniel O’Donovan, MP for Baltimore, in 1689, by Elizabeth Tonson, only daughter of Major Richard Tonson, of Spanish Island (great grandfather of the present Lord Riversdale) by Elizabeth sister of Thomas Beecher Esq.
https://durrushistory.com/2023/07/30/general-odonovan/
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Weekly drops of wisdom from the banks of Mother Ganga
34m ago
By — Shyamal Sinha
“There is a wonderful story told of two monks who had renounced the world and taken vows of celibacy and simplicity. One monk was older and the other was relatively young. They were wandering in the forest one day and came upon a rushing river. On the edge of the river stood a beautiful young woman. Her face was marked by anxiety as she explained to the two monks that she needed to get across, but the river was rushing too fast and she was afraid. She humbly asked if one of the monks would be good enough to carry her across. The older monk immediately picked her up gallantly and carried her to the other side while the younger monk walked by his side. Upon reaching the other shore, the monk placed the woman safely on the ground, and they bid her farewell.One week later, the two monks were sitting under a tree for their morning meditations when the younger monk suddenly exclaimed, ‘Okay, I’ve been keeping this inside for the last week but I cannot keep it inside anymore. I cannot believe the way you picked up that young, beautiful woman and carried her body so close to yours! After taking vows of celibacy before God, after promising to forsake the touch of a woman, how could you wrap your arms around her body and carry her tightly in your arms? I have had such respect, even reverence for you for so many years, and now I feel so betrayed. You are not a true monk! You are not a true celibate. I must find another companion with whom I can tread a path of purity.’ The elder monk listened with a faint smile growing across his face. ‘My brother,’ he said when the younger monk had finished his tirade. ‘I carried that young woman in my arms for approximately two minutes and left her by the side of the river, after setting her down safely. She has not been with me since. You, on the other hand, have carried her in your heart for the last week. You have slept with her, eaten with her, breathed with her and even meditated with her because you cannot get her out of your mind. She is living permanently in your heart. It is your own heart you must seek to purify, not the actions of your traveling companions.’How many precious minutes of each day do we waste by judging others? Too many, I think. We barely even realize how much we do it. We analyze and judge each other’s actions, words, and even each other’s articles of clothing or choice of perfume. We assume, naturally, that if we were in their shoes we would do nearly everything better. But, like in the case of the two monks,
===========================
Fires:
For the vast majority of the last 100 years, it has been illegal for anyone, Native American or otherwise, to burn in California. Only six states—Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Montana—have no laws on the books providing for civil or criminal liability for open fires in wildland without a permit. Karuk and Yurok tribes practiced burning for tens of thousands of years. Among other things, they made baskets out of the hazelnut trees, which can only be made from the burned branches of the trees; unburned branches are too inflexible. Baskets, Robbins said, are critical to their culture. The baskets are baby carriers, eating bowls, cooking pots, and used in prayer ceremonies. Girls wear basket hats. Fire under the oak trees also rids the acorns of weevils, preventing infestations. Without fire, firs grow and crowd out the oaks, preventing acorn growth.
Traditionally, the tribes burned a piece of land every three to ten years, as the land needs to rest before it can be burned again. But European colonizers made laws banning burning and suppressing every fire they saw. The very first session of the California Legislature in 1850 mandated fires be put out and not started.
==============================
Canada: The Listowel Paranormal Society may have caused a bad scare at Mackenzie Hall, but it wasn't completely in vain. The group posted on Facebook that the Hall has invited them back to do further paranormal research, so there doesn't seem to be bad blood there. Plus, they still have the photo of George the ghost, so… worth it?
=================
A finance manager from Ireland’s national railway network who turned whistleblower has said his work duties have been “hacked down to nothing” – meaning his main tasks are to eat lunch and read newspapers, while being paid €121,000 (£105,000; $126,000) a year.
Dermot Alastair Mills was talking at a hearing into his complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, in which he said that he had been relieved of most of his duties at Irish Rail, according to the Irish Independent.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvmakw/irish-rail-whistleblower-employee
---------------------------
Silence in Prayer
We can fear praying in silence when it does not feel fruitful. However, that silence humbles us and allows us to realize how transcendent God really is. Through silent prayer, we can experience the mystery of God in our souls.
Right Relationship with God
God begins the rules of the covenant in the context of a relationship. He reminds us that he has called us into intimacy with him. To be in a right relationship with God, we must follow the rules he has given us.
Covenants
In the ancient world, covenants create family relationships. This is the relationship God seeks out with the Israelites and now with you through the New Covenant.
-----------------------------------
Asking
Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom to know his will so you may follow it in every circumstance.
---------------------------------
God's Grace is Present
You must look beyond appearances to discern what true wisdom is. Be patient and allow for grace and wisdom to become apparent in time.
Adoration
Adoration is an opportunity for silence before the Lord. Standing before God in adoration cleanses your heart and renews your strength.
================================
PLANNING: Objections
The councillor, who is the current cathaoirleach (mayor) of the Listowel Municipal District, said that many of these types of planning applications are being objected to and appealed to An Bord Pleánala.
The objections are made on environmental grounds and relate to the EU Habitats Directive.
The councillor, who supports environmental legislation, said that farmers could be waiting up to 18 months for a decision from An Bord Pleánala on a planning appeal.
===========================
Grazing sheep under solar panels
Irish farmers have the opportunity to lease their land to BayWa r.e. on a long-term basis, usually for 35 years or even longer. For them, that means they can rely on a hassle-free investment, whilst securing a usage fee over the entire lease period.
With BayWa r.e. they also have a reliable partner that takes care of all services and maintenance during the entire project lifecycle.
As the solar panel foundations only cover around 5% of the land, the land can be used for grazing. After the lease, BayWa r.e. will decommission the solar farm and return the land to the farmer in its original condition.
Usually, this means that the land will have better soil quality than before, as it has not been impacted by intensive farming practices or treated with pesticides or fertilisers for several decades.
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/solar-panels-and-sheep-a-perfect-combination/
=============================
Back in 2016, geologists from the University of Toronto announced they had discovered water at the bottom of an old mine in Canada that was 2 billion years old. The claim was based on the presence of dissolved salts and noble gases, which suggests how long the water had been isolated.
However, the water itself must be at least 2 billion years old but this work did not reveal when it formed. So how old is this water or indeed, any of the stuff we drink?
Today we get an answer thanks to Cecilia Ceccarelli at the Université Grenoble Alpes in France and Fujun Du at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, who have studied the way water forms and where most of it on Earth is likely to have come from.
Their conclusion is that most of the water we drink formed during the early formation of the Solar System some 4.5 billion years ago. In other words, it is older than Earth itself.
===========================
Mary Keogh Inspirational Volunteer. In 2023 reached 100 years
“It was a different time when I was growing up.”
To mark Daffodil Day (Support Daffodil Day 2020), this month’s Listowel Character is Mary Keogh. Mary has lived all of her 96 years in the town. She is a breast cancer survivor and has been a Daffodil Day volunteer for 30 years. It is hard to find someone as community oriented as Mary, her years of volunteering for numerous groups are an inspiration!
https://www.listowel.ie/person/mary-keogh/
==========================
NOISE; How loud is too loud?
Sound is often measured on a scale of decibels, or dB, in which near total silence is zero dB and a firecracker exploding within a meter of the listener is about 140 dB.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/09/health/noise-exposure-health-impacts.html
===================
Read the 2022 annual report (.pdf)
See below for previous years’ annual reports and supporting materials.
Did you know that for each dollar donated to World Vision, more than a dollar’s worth of help gets to kids and families?
We’re always working to keep our overhead low. In 2022, we used 89% of our total operating expenses for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need.
https://www.worldvision.org/about-us/financial-accountability-2
An estimated 108.4 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes, according to a 2022 analysis from the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This figure includes refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people, and other individuals in need of international protection.
The war in Ukraine, which triggered Europe’s largest displacement crisis since World War II, has played a significant role in the rise. At the end of 2022, 52% of the world’s refugee population came from Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.
https://www.worldvision.org/news-stories
=====================
An estimated 108.4 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes, according to a 2022 analysis from the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This figure includes refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced people, and other individuals in need of international protection.
The war in Ukraine, which triggered Europe’s largest displacement crisis since World War II, has played a significant role in the rise. At the end of 2022, 52% of the world’s refugee population came from Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.
https://www.worldvision.org/news-stories
=================================
===================================
With a frontloaded caveat or two about suffering, sacrifice, deprivation, or thrift. Underneath which, pulled taut, are the steel cables of our will, our right, and our obligation to travel. And an obligation to use travel as a font and showcase for vitality. This is, at least, how I often have felt about travel: here is evidence for myself, maybe others, that I am fully alive, vigorous, curious.
If vacation travel is cultural currency, professional travel is career currency, career necessity in some cases. Globalization has made travel often mandatory for the management class: Americans alone make “over 405 million long-distance business trips per year” and US business trip expenditure is set to rise from 3.28 billion pre-pandemic to 500 billion in 2022.
https://lithub.com/snapshots-of-the-end-of-travel-on-trying-to-enter-a-personal-no-fly-zone/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
=========================
All Ireland Fleadh 6th to 14th August at Mullingar.
https://treoir.comhaltas.ie/read/2023/1/#page/n1/mode/2up
-----------------------------
Langan Family; https://windlefamilycolimerick.wordpress.com/?wref=bif
====================================
Alberta News
https://youtu.be/xtKt_QgV_vg
========================
Paddy Waldron
spnooSdertfu 1la0 cc29fPt8u0J3l3gt21 2186ifhty3mf9Muu:5u luu •
Those of you who will be in parts of the world with access to BBC One television on 13 July next and who are interested in County Clare genealogy might like to put this date in your diary:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001nqhd
... Dev [Griffin] travels to Kilkee on the west coast of Ireland to learn about his Irish grandfather’s dad, his great-grandfather James Griffin, who was known by his Gaelic name, Séamus Mór Ó Gríobhtha. As he uncovers Séamus’s involvement in the Gaelic League, Dev learns about the battle to preserve Irish culture and language during this period. Dev is astonished by what he learns about Ireland’s history and reveals how proud he is of his Irish ancestors ...
============================
ATIE HAFNER: You've been listening to Lost Women of Science Shorts. Barbara Howard was the Senior Producer on this episode, Lucy Evans was Producer, and our Associate Producer was Dominique Janee. Our Sound Engineer was Hansdale Hsu. Thanks to my Co-Executive Producer Amy Scharf to Jeff DelViscio, and to Thom Burns and Lisa Bravada at the Harvard Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection. Lost Women of Science is funded in part by Schmidt Futures and by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-astronomer-discovered-what-the-stars-were-made-of-and-few-believed-her-discovery/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
=================================
By Carrig Side-13/06/2023
By Tom Aherne
FUNDRAISING WALK: David Egan a native of Carrigkerry now lives in Amsterdam and he is currently nearing the end of his third fundraising walk which he calls 1K by Father’s Day. The idea is to walk from his present home to his native parish and Ardagh a distance of 1,104km from February 1 to Father’s Day on June 18 and he will contribute a Euro per km walked and hopefully other people will donate as well. In previous years David has raised money for the Mid West Simon Community in Limerick and the Blood Bike South in Cork. This year the money raised will go towards the St. Kieran’s GAA Club new pitch project: gofund.me/d0f4f06e David attended Carrigkerry national school, St Ita’s Newcastle West and UL.
He left Ireland in 1991 and attended graduate school in the US, for 12 years in New York and San Diego. David moved to Amsterdam in 2003 where he now runs a software company. His family members have been involved with the parish hurling and football club in the past. Travelling around different locations as part of his work his recent update from San Diego has him close to his target walk from Amsterdam to Ardagh. He has raised €1,803 to date and hopes to break the €2,000 barrier. David has 229km to go and is currently in Boston where he hopes to continue his walking. We wish David well in the final days of his walk and fundraising endeavours for his native club.
https://www.athea.ie/category/by-carrig-side/
------------------------------
he Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
First of all I want to apologize to all you crossword enthusiasts who missed out on the crossword for the past two weeks. I had the wrong grid inserted which meant that the clues could not possibly fit. Thanks to Mairéad Langan for pointing it out to me. I have no excuse except that I may be “doting” in my old age. Anyway, back to normal this week – enjoy.
Voice recognition technology is now part of many of the phones, tablets, PCs and televisions we use every day. It is no longer necessary to type in a request, we can talk to “Siri” or “Alexa” or whatever and our wish is their command. It is very useful when composing a long text message or saving having to scroll through program listings to get the desired channel on TV. Young people have no problem but older folk, like myself, run into difficulties due to the way we talk. We grew up with a language that is very different to what is used today. It comes from the fact that for years we were speaking a mixture of Irish and English and based our pronunciations on the Irish “blas”. We also speak very quickly and don’t leave spaces between words which is fine when we are talking to each other but not good when we try to communicate with people from outside our own area or voice recognition. When I was going to school we were only a couple of generations away from an Irish speaking society so it is understandable that our grasp of a language that was strange to us would take some time. The fact that we use broad vowels, like we have in Irish, means we pronounce things in a different way. We don’t say mean, we say “mane”; cream is “crame ( as in “the cramery”). We also put in “h” after “s” in many words so that we have the Easht, Wesht, besht., mosht etc. We also tend to drop g at the end of words ending in ing. Morning becomes “mornin”, evening “evenin” etc. We sometimes drop Y from the start of words like “you” which becomes “oo”. And we also have a problem with words that start with wh. We tend to replace it with an f sound. What becomes “fhat” and where becomes “fhere”. Add to that the fact that we run our words together and shorten some of them means we have phrases like this; “What do you mean” sounds like “fhat d’u mane” “am I not telling you” becomes “amen’t I tellinu”. When you go up, go in and tell him to go out becomes “fhen you gup, goin an tell him gout”. There was a story about a tourist in Kerry who was watching fishing boats leaving a harbour in the morning. He asked a local man how long the Japanese had been fishing in the area. He explained that one captain was shouting to another in Japanese. “What did he say”, asked the local. He replied, “he shouted hi ohara, ohara uhuru howeru”. The local got a fit of laughing because he knew that what the man was really saying was, “Hi O’Hara, O’Hara you whore you, how are you”. In some areas they have also a problem with Vs and Ys. It is not uncommon to hear somebody order a “wodka and fiite” at a bar. There was a man in Kerry, long ago, who had been in the IRA during the War of Independence. He was running for local government and his chances of success were being discussed in the local pub. Some said it would be difficult for him but one pundit put forward the suggestion that “he will get elected on the wotes of the wolenteers”. Another problem is the use of I instead of E. Somebody approaching a group of men might say “hower d’min” (how are the men). It looks bad when it is written like that but when it is said we don’t take any notice of it because it is just the way we used to communicate. There is actually nothing wrong with it as the main reason for language is to communicate and as long as we understand each other, that’s fine. The problem is that Siri or Alexa weren’t living around here and have no knowledge of our colourful way of talking to each other. I have tried, for the fun of it, just talking normally, in the local dialect into the phone. What I was saying and the text it produced were poles apart and quite unintelligible so I had to go back to the drawing board, speak as properly and distinctly as I could and try again. It was better this time but it wasn’t 100% correct and I could never depend on it. We are not unique in this. People from all over the country have the same problem so we will all have to brush up on our pronunciation and diction if we want to get the best out of a technology that might be very useful to us.. In the meantime I will probably still salute with something like: “howeru gettinon”.
===================================
======================
HEATWAVE:
But this isn’t the first heatwave the country has experienced, and they are becoming more frequent, intense and lasting longer, according to Met Éireann, which said it is being driven by human-caused climate change.
A heatwave in Ireland is defined as five consecutive days with a maximum temperature in excess of 25 degrees.
[ Heatwave reaches Ireland as public warned about risk of heat stress ]
July 2021
Met Éireann issued its first ever Status Orange high temperature warning for six counties, with the mercury topping 30 degrees in some areas.
The warning was issued for Cavan, Monaghan, south Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford, and Westmeath, while a status yellow heat warning was applied countrywide for the week.
2018
The summer of this year was one of the warmest and driest on record for Ireland and most of northwestern Europe, during which time heatwaves were recorded at 15 stations.
Oak Park weather station in Co Carlow notched up an 11-day heatwave in late June, the longest heatwave in the last 20 years. Absolute and partial drought conditions prevailed for much of June and July.
2006
The hottest spell in Ireland was in mid-July, with the highest temperature, 32.3 degrees, recorded at Elphin, Co Roscommon on July 19th of that year.
Kilkenny had 29 consecutive days in July when temperatures exceeded 20 degrees, nine of which were 25 degrees or higher.
2003
Ireland experienced sweltering heat in August, particularly between the 4th and 8th, when temperatures topped 25 degrees in many places during the day and remained above 15 degrees at night.
August 8th was the hottest day of the year when the Mayo weather stations of Belmullet and Claremorris recorded values of 27.7 degrees and 29.5 degrees respectively.
1995
The summer of 1995 is one of the warmest on record. Kilkenny had 27 days where temperatures exceed 25 degrees, and recorded the highest temperature of the summer at 30.8 degrees on August 2nd.
1983
Two heatwaves were experienced in Ireland this year. The first was between July 10th and July 16th, while the second occurred between August 15th and 26th.
The July heatwave saw water shortages emerge as the extreme heat caused drought conditions.
1976
By the time it ended, the three-month heatwave during the summer of this year had caused the worst drought in 150 years.
Boora, Co Offaly recorded a temperature of 32.5 degrees on June 29th, and was the fifth day in a row when the mercury had breached 32 degrees.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/08/08/heatwaves-in-ireland-when-did-they-happen-and-where/
=========================
Edible Flowers
=======================
"Courts deferring routinely to regulators' interpretation of the law encourages them to aggregate power to themselves while depriving harmed parties of effective judicial remedies," commented Iain Murray, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. "Natural justice and due process require a judiciary that is more involved in determining what the law says. Chevron deference should be overturned as a matter of regulatory hygiene."
Adler thinks the Court will not overturn the Chevron doctrine but is likely to narrow it, making "clear that statutory silences and ambiguities should not be construed as grants of agency authority."
"This is of a piece with …the elevation of the Major Questions doctrine," he points out. "This is a way to curtail the ability of agencies to aggrandize their power, but without destabilizing judicial review of agency action."
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGsmNWwHMfrNVMNlXnVmnFvZvrM
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What's Behind the Decline in Teen Mental Health?
And could a lack of independence really be to blame?
https://www.parentdata.org/p/whats-behind-the-decline-in-teen?utm_medium=email
=================================
The First Famous Football Team Behind Bars
Sing Sing’s football team, The Black Sheep, ascended to fame even though its players were incarcerated. One player was so good, he signed with the Eagles.
===================================
Reflections broadcast on Radio Kerry’s Just a Thought slot.
https://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/our-diocese/communications/listen-now/
Reflection
Honor and Glory
How do we explain that the Son of God can be lower than the angels? Even in his humanity, he is crowned with honor and glory, subjecting all things to him. This makes the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection visible.
Unafraid of Death
The Son of God took on flesh and blood so that through death, he might destroy death. In this, he atones for our sins and frees us from our fear of death—because Christ has redeemed us.
-----------------------
Just a Thought
Don’t Worry
If only people who worry about their misfortunes, would think about the riches they have, they would stop worrying. Would you sell both of your eyes for a million euros. Or your hands? Or your hearing? Add up what you have, and you will not sell them for all the gold in the world. The best things in life are yours, if you can appreciate yourself. That’s the way to stop worrying and start living. (Dale Carnegie)
---------------------
Reflection
Baptism was not over and done with
the day we were taken to the font.
We are baptised by all that happens to us in life.
We are baptised by hardship : in its turbulent waters
we are purified of all that is false and useless.
We are baptised by suffering : in its murky waters
we grow in humility and compassion.
We are baptised by joy : in its gurgling waters
we experience the goodness of life.
We are baptised by love : in its singing waters
we blossom like flowers in the sun.
Baptism is like the planting of a seed.
It will take a lifetime for this seed to grow and ripen.
------------------------
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The Presbytery, Abbeydorney. (066 7135146; 087 6807197)
abbeydorney@dioceseofkerry.ie
1st January, 2023. Solemnity of Mary.
Dear Parishioner,
Do you recall anything I said in my Christmas homily? Is
that a fair question to ask a week later! You might remember that I start-
ed by referring to the editorial in the Irish Times of the 24th December.
Among the bits of information that I gave you was that the Christmas song,
Santa Claus is coming to Town, composed and recorded in 1934, is accept-
ed as the most popular Christmas song. The editorial went to say that a
hymn composed 60 years later in 1994 by Bernadette Farrrell, an English
hymn-writer, ‘Christ be our Light’ is one of the hymns being sung by choirs
at parish Masses. The greater part of the editorial was given to reflecting
on some of the thoughts in that hymn.
On St. Stephen’s Day, I read the Irish Independent and the editorial that
day caught my eye, like the Irish Times did on Saturday. The editorial head-
ing was ‘This Special Day Gives Us All A Chance For Reflection’. The first
few sentences were about folklore associated St. Stephen, the first martyr,
followed by some comment on the Wrenboy tradition in Ireland. This day
is also dubbed ‘Lá an Dreoilín’, or Wren Day, and it is a time for partying,
with plenty of music, song and dance.’ A little bit more of the editorial told
about the different things people might do on St. Stephen’s Day before go-
ing on to say ‘Whether in active or passive mode, this time of year does
offer a golden opportunity for a little quiet reflection on the things that
matter. It is best to take that opportunity for quiet thinking. It is time to
look at the year which is fast dying. It’s also a time to consider looking at
the upcoming new year and what opportunities that will bring .
We get a chance to connect with family members and old friends and also
openings to make some new friendships. It is a time to think of those ex-
iled from our country, to think about those who are less fortunate than
ourselves, and perhaps stricken by illness or other forms of distress. Ex-
tending a helping hand in such cases can help the giver as much as the re-
ceiver. The prayer of St. Francis, “For it is in giving that we receive” is more
apt than ever at times such as these. We wish everyone joy, rest and
peace on this special day. Even though St. Stephens Day was a few days
ago, I think the advice given in what I have written above is valid at all
times.
------------------------------
Musical Interlude.....with Con O’Sullivan (1922-2003).
Towards the end of 1967, some months before our ordination to the
priesthood, Captain Con O’Sullivan, hit the scene! Yes, everything about
Con was dramatic. An army man, with a difference. He was coming to go
on the seminary staff, not as drill master, but as a tutor in speech training.
It didn’t take long for us to appreciate the gifts he had to bring. However,
it seemed for us in the final year, a bit late in the day. Our minds were set
on ordination and mission postings only a few months away. From then
on, he came from his home in Newbridge, near the Curragh of Kildare,
once a week, and, in later years, more often. In a matter of months , our
class of twenty three was ordained and dispersed to different African coun-
tries and to South America. Con himself continued however, as a visiting
staff member for many years, teaching generations of Kiltegan students.
Seventeen years later, after a bout of illness, I found myself on temporary
assignment back in Kiltegan. This time, I was a colleague of Con’s on the
teaching staff. He was by now, a Lt. Colonel and retired from the army.
With his wife, Marie, an accomplished musician, he had set up the Leinster
School of Communication, at their home where they offered courses in
drama, speech training and music. Between them, they directed many mu-
sicals and plays in Newbridge and many other venues. These included the
annual musicals of our own First Year students. In addition, Con prepared
his students for the examinations, set and conducted by the London Guild-
hall School of Music and Drama (LGSM). At one stage, one of our seasoned
missionaries, Fr. Oliver Leavy, in Grenada, West Indies, mentored a youth
group, called ‘Spice Island Youthquake’, which he took on a concert tour
of Ireland. Con and Marie were very taken by them, seeing a lot of poten-
tial, so much so, they suggested coming on a holiday to Grenada, and
spending time there, honing the group’s stagecraft, and upping the quality
of their performance. However, shortly before they were due to leave for
home, Marie took ill suddenly and, sadly, died in Grenada. Con, bereft at
this great loss, yet undaunted, returned alone to Grenada the following
year, honouring his beloved Marie’s memory by completing what both of
them had begun together.
Points to
In the course of his work in Kiltegan, Con made a huge impact on many
students, giving them confidence in themselves and helping many to dis-
cover talents and abilities they had difficulty in recognising and owning. In
some
instances, through his patient encouragement, and use of techniques, he
helped many of them overcome a stammer and become competent speak-
ers. In many cases, they achieved the highest grades in their exams. I
learned a lot from Con, during our short few years together in Kiltegan, as
we worked on two musicals together.
There are, as you would imagine, many stories of Con. The one I like best
recalling had its own measure of drama and comedy. Before I left to return
to Africa, he invited me out for dinner. Knowing how he liked to take a
drink, I insisted on driving and persuaded him to stay the night in Kiltegan.
After a very enjoyable outing, we arrived back in Kiltegan about 1.30 a.m.
We started to climb the steps to the main entrance, as quietly as possible.
It was a frosty night. Suddenly, I fell forward on the steps, grazing my
shins. ‘My God almighty,’ roared Con, “I’m the one who’s supposed to be
drunk. I hope none of your religious superiors are looking out the window
at this spectacle.” Whether this hastened my departure for Africa the fol-
lowing year, I will never really know at this stage, I suppose. Thanks, Con,
for all those memories.
(Nicholas Motherway, in Africa, January/February 2023. Fr. Motherway , a
member Saint Patricks Missionary Society, worked in Nigeria and Kenya and
is now living in his native city of Cork. He has contributed articles to Africa
magazine, under the heading ‘A Musical Interlude, since January 2022.)
Points to Ponder
If John in his Gospel speaks of Mary, the mother of Jesus’, St. Paul, in to-
day’s second reading says even less – ‘When the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman .....’ Mary’s name is not even men-
tioned. It has been suggested that this is in the spirit of the New Testa-
ment, where there is no privilege of class or individuals. People are distin-
guished by one thing only – by their service to the community, in the name
of Jesus the Lord. This applies to Mary as much as to any of the apostles,
as to any other Christian disciple. Today’s feast, however, is called ‘Mary,
Mother of God’, and not just ‘Mother of Jesus’. For both Jews and Mus-
lims, who have the deepest respect for God and even for his name, the
idea that God could have a human being for his mother is blasphemous. It
is a contradiction in terms for the Creator of all things to be mothered by a
teacher. Mary gave birth to the human child that is Jesus, but that child is
the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. (Continued on back page)
(Continued from third page) Jesus is both human and divine: two natures,
as they say, but only one Person. Mary, as the Mother of Jesus, is also the
Mother of that Person and that Person is God, one with the Father and the
Holy Spirit. Clearly, we are not expected to be able to understand or ex-
plain this any further. The nature of God is quite beyond us. We need the
simple and trusting faith of the shepherds. (living space.sacredspace.ie)
Seeing Your Life Through The Lens of The Gospel
John Byrne OSA, Intercom, December 2022/January 2023
1. The story tells us that the shepherds helped Mary to realise the
significance of the child born to her. She treasured their words and
pondered their meaning. Who have been the people, who have
helped you to understand the meaning of significant events in your
life? Remember them gratefully.
2. We are told that ‘Mary pondered these things in her heart’. What
part has faithful reflection on life played for you? How has it been
helpful to you in deepening your appreciation for the gift of life?
3. When the shepherds realised that they had been witnesses to a
wonderful manifestation of God’s love for his people, they glorified
and praised God? Recall ways in which you have been made aware
of God’s love for you. How have you expressed your gratitude?
The Irish Wake: The death of a person is a community event. It affects us
all. The Irish tradition of the wake and big funeral were wise community
events, recognising the need for support in the work of grieving, the need
for all to wrestle with our understanding of death, suffering and grieving.
Indeed, we and many other ancient cultural traditions, have much wisdoim
that we need to hold on to in the twenty first century. (Jeremy Corley et al
(eds.) Maynooth College Reflects on Facing Life’s End in Furrow Magazine,
December 2022.
Three wise women would have ....................asked directions, arrived on
time, help deliver the baby , cleaned the stable, made a casserole,
brought practical gifts and there would be peace on Earth.
(Reality magazine, December 2022.
===========================================
From Fr Jim Lenihan
Dear Parishioners, firstly I’d like to thank you sincerely for the incredible
financial contributions you made to the Parish and to me personally over the year
and in particular the Christmas contributions. I’m very grateful. I’d also like to
thank everyone who worked so hard distributing the boxes of envelopes over the
past week. At present the Parish Pastoral Council have taken up the responsibility
of distribution be it for the bazaar or parish envelopes deliveries and for that I
thank them sincerely.
My hope for the future however is to have a team of contact people from each
area which would share the work of the distribution. These contact people would
also be people who I could turn to for guidance and advice around the happenings
of each station area. At this time also I’m looking for volunteers to be part of the
funeral team. Funeral teams will be an essential group in our parish going forward.
As the number of priests become less and less, support from the local community
in funeral preparation will be vital. The funeral team will support and assist the
priest to ensure that funeral liturgies will continue to be celebrated with dignity
and where the memory of our loved ones will be honoured in best manner possible.
So if you’d like to be a contact person for your area or a member of the Parish
Funeral team please let me know. Or if you’d know someone with the personality
suitable for either role please let me know your recommendations. May the Lord
Jesus continue blessing this tight knit community of ours and let each of us play
our own part in building up the community.
REFLECTION
The baptism of Jesus is considered a revelation of God. This is another
“epiphany.” On this, the last day of the Christmas season, our Gospel reveals to us
Jesus' relationship to God: Jesus is the son of Mary and Joseph. Jesus is
proclaimed as God's own Son with whom God is well pleased. As beloved of God, in
our Baptism, we claim our identity as members of the family of God. On the feast
of the Baptism of the Lord, the scriptures read during liturgy the move from the
Birth of Jesus to Jesus’ public Mission. Love is the soul of
Jesus’ mission. Without love, there can be no meaning or
purpose in life. Without love, there can be no mission. Jesus
came to save us by showing God's love for us. God’s love is
shown in our love for one another. Jesus comes into the world
to save us from ourselves. He came to show us what it means
to be human. At His Baptism, Jesus was revealed to the world
as the Beloved Son of God. In this, we are also reminded that
at our baptism, together with Christ, we are confirmed as
God’s beloved. What can we do during this week to remind
ourselves that we are God’s beloved?
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May our Mission be;
A time of grace for all,
A time of growth for the young,
A time of refreshment for the old,
A time of renewal for families,
A time of healing for the broken,
A time of joy for the sorrowing,
A time of forgiveness for the sinner,
A time of strength for the weak,
A time of welcome for everyone
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Every week, The Van Maren Show will try to get a handle on what is really going on in our culture today. It can be difficult to find news sources and storytellers that accurately reflect a Christian, socially conservative, pro-life, pro-family worldview. Join me on Wednesdays as we head to the front lines of the culture war. Hosted on Acast.
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QUEEN: The queen was also an internationally renowned figure. It is easy to forget that she visited some 117 countries as monarch, meeting countless leaders, statesmen and diplomats. She acted as head of state to 15 British prime ministers and met no fewer than 13 American presidents. Indeed, her reign lasted more than one quarter of the entire history of the United States. She was the first British monarch to travel to a communist country when she toured Yugoslavia in 1972. She was a symbol of the reconciliation with Japan, receiving the emperor in the United Kingdom, while her visits to China and Russia in the 1980s and 1990s were equally significant.
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By Jonah McKeown
St. Louis, Mo., Sep 10, 2022 / 09:00 am
Dolores Mission grade school in Los Angeles didn’t always have the reputation it has today. A few decades ago, the area surrounding the church and school had one of the highest concentrations of gang activity in an already dangerous metropolis.
“We didn’t always have the reputation of being a stellar school. In fact, we had a lot of issues. The gangs very much control our surroundings,” Karina Moreno-Corgan, the school’s president of nine years, told CNA.
But in recent years, thanks in part to a Catholic organization that supports Latino leadership, the school — which draws the majority of its students from the surrounding low-income area east of downtown — is sending many of its graduates on to college rather than into the arms of the local gangs.
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1843-1970 West Cork Agricultural Societies and Shows
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yoNjmDNQKT_pk3nvlCsT72YWYoDENcs--uaJxh2ber8/edit
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July 2022, Abbeydorney Parish
Good news for Irish Autism Association and Sightsavers. I am happy to let
parishioners know that, during the coming week, I will send the amount of
€1,300 to each of the organisations mentioned above. That is happening
because of the generosity of many people who responded to my invitation
in this newsletter, on the occasion of the celebration of my Golden Jubilee,
to help both organisations in the good work they do. I wish to thank those
who gave a personal donation to me, in addition to giving to the two
charities. (Fr. Denis O’Mahony)
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Despite its English name, the peanut, or Arachis hypogaea, is not a nut in the botanical sense. Rather, it is a leguminous plant belonging to the family Fabaceae. The plant’s specific epithet hypogaea (“under the earth”) references how it adapted to produce bright yellow flowers above ground and fruit below ground. This form of reproduction, known as geocarpy, evolved to protect plant offspring from harsh conditions.
The peanut, a natural hybrid of two wild species, originated in Bolivia. Andean civilizations domesticated the plant through natural selection over millennia, spreading its cultivation to other regions of central South America.
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Elderberries and elderflowers have long been used by Indigenous healers for treating fevers and swelling and to induce sweating. The berries, which feature prominently in some Indigenous folklore, are also often dried and stored for the winter for later consumption.
The recent entrance of elderberry into mainstream popularity and market success is marked not only by an increasing popular desire to engage with traditional, “natural” remedies but also the impact of scientific “confirmation” of elderberry’s advantageous bioactive components and potential for drug development.
https://daily.jstor.org/plant-of-the-month-elderberry/
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Tribute from Asdee Notes in Kerryman May 2022
ASDEE
Death of Margie Rice (Walsh)
Another member of the old stock of the local community passed on to her eternal reward during the week with the unexpected death of Margaret Margie Rice, (nee Walsh) of Blanemore, Ballylongford and Dromtrasna Abbeyfeale Co. Limerick.
A member of a very well - known and highly respected family she had been in good health and passed away after a brief illness.
Known to everyone is Margie she was a very popular member of the local farming community and was a lady of kind and genial nature who was held in the highest regard by everyone who know her.
A native of Abbeyfeale she moved to Blanemore when she married her husband John and they ran the small family farm.
While she entered into a new environment when she moved to Ballylongford it was an easy transition as because of her gregarious nature she made new friends quickly and she knitted in snugly into this small rural community.
She loved all the old traditions in life and was very straight and upfront with people in her everyday life.
She was a great conversationalist and she loved to call to her neighbours on a regular basis for a chat and catch up on the local news.
A diligent worker on the family farm she was a jack of all trades regarding farming chores and was up bright and early every morning and turned in a greats day’s work seven days a week.
While she stepped back from the laborious side of farming in more recent year’s she could offer plenty of advice and support to her daughter Kathleen.
She reared a lot of chickens and hens and provided free range eggs for her neighbours and friends.
She had a great love for the land and the freedom of rural life and rural family suited her to perferction.
She had a big cross to bear in life when her husband John passed away suddenly at the age of 50 and she was left to look after her two daughters Kathleen and Patricia.
With the help of her family, friends and neighbours she got on with life as best she could and continued to run the family farm.
Widely admired for her caring qualities she looked after her father in law Mick Rice who lived into his 90’s
She was a great cook and anyone who called to the house was given the very best of hospitality and were given lashings of home cooked food.
She had a great zest for life and she was a prolific storyteller who had great tales to tell about her younger years.
She never had much interest on television and she would rather meet local people for a chat.
The Pandemic affected her hugely as she was unable to make her house visits due to the lockdown..
While she was very happy where she was living she made regular trips to her native parish back in Abbeyfeale to catch up with family members neighbours and friends.
Although she was advancing in years she still had a great interest in the farm and she shared her vast knowledge of farming methods with her daughter Kathleen who took over from her to keep the family tradition alive.
She really loved her 3 grand - children Sophie, Cillian and John and she passed on all of the tricks of her trade to them regarding how to rear chickens and hens and they have their own little oasis of a garden where the fowl roam around freely every day.
Her untimely passing came as a great shock to her family, friends and neighbours and her passing with create a void in the district that will be difficult to overcome.
However Margie has left a legacy of fond and cherished memories behind which will be around for many generations to come.
She lived a long and fulfilled lifetime and made a huge contribution to the community she lived in.
No one had a bad word to say about Margie because she was a great neighbour to everyone around Blanemore and surrounding area and if she needed any kind assistance she had people would only be to glad to help her out in any way they could.
She lived her life in a God fearing fashion who respected everyone she knew, practiced her faith religiously was kind and generous to everyone she met in her daily life and had a kind word with everyone she met along the path of life.
A woman with a big heart she was fair and honest with her dealings with people and showed warmth and kindness to those who were fortunate to have known her.
She lived by the old traditions in life who was and practiced them through her long life time.
The esteem in which Margie and he family are held locally was reflected in the very large and widely representative congregations that turned out on Thursday evening to sympathise with the family at Lynch’s Funeral home in Ballylongford.
A big crowd turned out on Friday morning at her family home from where her remains were taken to St. Theresa’s Church Ballydonoghue.
Neighbours and friends of the family formed a guard of honour as the cortege left the family home and people stood out in front of their houses in respect along the journey for her Requiem Mass.
The celebrant at her Requiem Mass was Fr Martin Hegarty and in his homily he described Margie as a wonderful woman who made an enormous contribution to the local community.
He said he looked forward to celebration stations at her house where he said she had a big welcome for everyone who attended.
He said she had a strong faith and had a great devotion to Our Lady visiting Fatima, Lourdes and Knock many times during her long lifetime.
Her rosary beads meant a lot to her and she recited the rosary at here every night.
He said she lived a life who was friendly with everyone and had kind words to say about everyone she met.
He said she done an excellent job running the farm when her husband John at a young age and neighbours were only glad to be able to lend her a hand whenever she needed it.
She is survived by her daughters Patricia and Kathleen and Patricia her sister Helen and Extended family
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Spirit
Priestly Intercession
On Good Friday, Jesus, the true High Priest, offers himself to the Father on the Cross for the salvation of sinners. Today, the Church’s liturgy uniquely emphasizes intercessory prayer, interceding as Christ did. Following Christ’s and the Church's example, spend time praying for others and their needs.
From Silence to Celebration
Today, there is silence in heaven, for the Son of God has been put to death. Reflecting the silence of the tomb, the Church’s only liturgy today is the Easter Vigil. In this vigil Mass, the silence is broken as the Church celebrates Christ’s glorious Resurrection!
He Is Risen Indeed
Christ is risen! Jesus, once entombed, has risen from the dead, conquering sin and death. With his Resurrection, the New Creation has been ushered in. Rejoice today, celebrating Jesus’ victory over death and the new life he is offering you.
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The report was written by Emer Smyth and Helen Russell, both adjunct professors at Trinity College, and draws on the substantial data base compiled under the Growing Up in Ireland survey. The report is based on research among fathers of children of the 2008 cohort who were aged 9 in 2017.
Both the authors and Minister O’Gorman have emphasised the need for greater state and employer support for parents, and, in particular, for fathers, to enable them to take more time off work to be with their young children. O’Gorman referred, in this context, to the government’s decision to extend paid parental leave from 2 to 7 weeks from 2022.
Of the original 8,032 families initially interviewed, the focus group was narrowed down to families where both parents were part of the household. However, of that cohort just 5,997 had both a father and a mother who were part of the household at all stages of the interview process. Which means that just over 25% of the households surveyed were headed by just one parent for all or a part of the process (p11.)
That closely matches the findings of the 2016 Census which enumerated 218,817 one parent families – 24.4% of all family units. Over 86% of these were headed by a mother. And yet the report devotes almost none of its more than 100 pages to discussing this issue – despite it being one of the key areas of family studies in most western societies.
In particular, the absence of a father has been identified as a key factor in the likelihood that the children of a single parent household, particularly boys, will engage in harmful or even criminal behaviour. A comprehensive 2020 review of the literature on this area was conducted by a team of leading Dutch academics.
https://gript.ie/esri-report-on-families-ignores-elephant-in-the-corner/
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he Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
There’s an old joke that goes like this: “how do you know politicians are telling lies? – their lips are moving?”. The sad part of that is the fact that it is not a joke at all but the truth. Politicians may start out with the best of intentions but they are soon dragged into the party system where survival is the name of the game and they have to toe the line. A politician’s loyalties are firstly, to themselves getting re-elected, secondly, to the party and lastly, to the country. This makes them do and say things that are not strictly honest and they have no problem in telling us what they want us to hear, even if it has no relationship to the truth. Governments have been lying to their citizens from the dawn of civilization and sometimes they will tell you it is necessary for the greater good. Whatever about yesterday’s politicians, some of the present day ones have brought the profession to a new low. The mould was broken when Trump ran for office in America. The truth to him is whatever he deems it to be and anything contrary is fobbed off as “fake news”. He told potential voters what they wanted to hear and gave credence to white racists and other malcontents who ended up attacking the seat of government. He fabricated theories about election fraud despite court after court throwing out cases because there wasn’t one bit of evidence of vote rigging. Still, a great many people actually believe that the election was “stolen” and consider him to be the legitimate president. The whole purpose of American politics is for republicans to defeat democrats and vice versa. Many good laws, that would improve the lives of ordinary citizens, are not passed because one side or the other has a majority in one of the houses of legislation and would rather kill the bill than give a “victory” to the other side. The government also makes decisions on foreign policy that are not communicated to the general public, in fact they may be told something quite different.
The art of lying has always been used but has been brought to a new level by Boris Johnson. This was obvious during the lead-up to the Brexit referendum when, ably assisted by Dominic Cummings, when he told blatant lies about the amount of money it was costing to stay in Europe and how much it would mean to the NHS. They even put it on the side of a bus. The public swallowed it and the rest is history. He got away with it and has continued in his deceitful way ever since. At last he has told one too many and is hanging on to power by his fingertips. The dogs in the street know he was at a party at 10 Downing Street in contravention of the Covid restrictions that he was forcing on the general public. Despite this, he continued to deny that there was a party, and when that was found out he said he did stumble into it but did not know it was a party. Now, this is his home and, if there is a party in your home, surely you have to know about it. His race is almost run and, if the Tory party has any bit of decency left, he will be thrown out sooner rather than later and good riddance.
We have not covered ourselves in glory on this side of the water either. Simon Coveney, in a jobs for the boys scenario (or should that be jobs for the girls?), appointed Catherine Zappone to a cushy position in Europe when she failed to hold her seat. When challenged about it he should have apologised immediately and admitted that he should have gone through the proper procedure but, instead he tried to justify it. Then there was a party in his department offices that he did not attend but, once again, it left a sour taste with those who had obeyed the rules. Had he come out and condemned it at once it might not have appeared so bad but he didn’t. Now, I like Simon Coveney and I think he is by far the best politician we have but he did himself no favours by taking us all for mugs. People resigned and were forced out of their jobs for attending a golf dinner in Galway which, to my mind, didn’t break any of the rules because the dinner party was divided into two groups in different rooms where they were within the limits. There was a baying for blood after this so I presume the same fate will await the civil servants who attended the retirement party. Hang on though, Leo Varadkar said on radio the other day that the government had no power to put sanctions on civil servants so it will probably all finish up in a bottle of smoke. Since he made that statement, a law expert has contradicted him. While the minister has no power over the civil service, the government as a whole has but I doubt if that power will be exercised. The whole thing gives the impression that there is one law for us, the little people, and another for those who govern us. If you don’t believe me, ask a politician!
And what about the government’s latest plan to pay €100 off the electricity bill for every householder in the country? Now, I don’t mind helping those who find themselves in financial difficulties at this time but to give it to everyone is just a waste of money we don’t have. I don’t need it, thank God, and there are many more like me out there not to mention the thousands of well paid civil servants, captains of industry, wealthy business people, millionaires and billionaires. I think this has more to do with government popularity and the threat of Sinn Féin than a genuine attempt to help people. There is also the proposal to give €1,000 as a bonus to workers who were on the front line during the height of the pandemic. A nice idea in theory but who qualifies? Already we have many groups putting up there hand saying they were in danger and also deserve a bonus. Not enough thought went into this. Of course those who worked in wards full of Covid patients should be rewarded but wouldn’t it be much better if their pay and conditions were permanently improved. We already see an exodus of medical staff from this country because they are much better off working abroad. We need more professionals in the HSE and more capacity in our hospitals. Only when that is achieved will we have a service that will be attractive to work in but one where there will be no more patients on trolleys in corridors waiting for admission to a ward. The pandemic may be coming to an end but the waiting lists are not.
What has happened to the news on RTE? For almost a week before the announcement, the heading of every bulletin was about the possible easing of Covid restrictions and each option discussed in detail. Numerous pub, restaurant and night club owners were interviewed, day after day, letting us know what they wanted and expected to happen. By the time Micheál Martin made his announcement on Friday everybody knew exactly what he was going to say so where did RTE get its information? Was there a leak in NEPHET or was it a government ploy to tip off businesses so that they would be ready to open. I leave it to your own imagination. There was also the OTT reporting of the sad murder of Aisling Murphy. For the guts of a week, the RTE news crew broadcast from Tullamore again interviewing everyone and anyone who would answer a question. Their attention bordered on the ghoulish and intruded on the privacy of the family who were grieving. It continued with coverage of the funeral Mass and burial. To my mind funeral processions should never be filmed as they capture the immediate family when their emotions are at their most extreme and not for public scrutiny. The cameras have now gone and the country’s attention has turned to other matters but Aisling’s family have to live with the horror of her brutal murder, something that will have changed their lives forever. May God give them the strength they need to get through this horrible time.
It was nice to be able to sit down with a group of musicians for a session at the Top of the Town last Saturday night. There was a kind of a carnival atmosphere about the place as people tasted freedom from restrictions for the first time in ages. It just goes to show how important it is for us to socialise. Our mental health will be all the better for it and we hope that it will continue. We dare to look forward to better days ahead and a return to normality. It has been a long, hard slog and many of us have suffered throughout the long periods of confinement. Some people will have lost loved ones during this time and it was especially heartbreaking not to be able to visit hospitals or attend funerals. With any luck that is all behind us but I urge you all to continue to take precautions such as wearing masks in indoor settings and avoiding close contact where possible. Anyway, I am looking forward to a few more sessions of music and, who knows, we may have the Fleadh here in June. Wouldn’t that be a nice boost for the area.
https://www.athea.ie/category/news/
Tom Aherne notes Jan 2022
Damien O’Reilly, presenter of Countrywide on RTE Radio 1 on Saturday morning last, interviewed Ardagh native Jim Woulfe who recently retired as CEO of Dairygold. It was a very interesting piece of radio between the two who covered many past and present farming topics. Jim was recently honoured with the Cork Chamber ‘Outstanding Contribution to Business Award’ which recognises a lifelong career in the agri-food industry. Jim was also appointed onto the Board of Enterprise Ireland. Jim is involved in a lot of activities and projects and does some hobby farming at present. In retirement he will still be busy, but he is looking forward to spending more family time with wife Ann and family and pursuing his sporting interests.
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
By William L. Shirer
“One of the most important works of history of our time” (The New York Times): This National Book Award winner offers a chilling account of the rise of Nazi Germany. “Monumental” (Pulitzer Prize–winning author Theodore H. White).
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The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J. M. W. Turner
By Franny Moyle
Though J. M. W. Turner ranks among Britain’s most celebrated painters, the details of his tumultuous private life are less well-known. This “monumental” work (Booklist starred review) reveals the man behind the remarkable artistic achievements. “A thorough, balanced, and wonderfully fluent account” (The Times).
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Disease and History
By Frederick F. Cartwright and Michael Biddiss
How did the bubonic plague influence medieval civilization? How did syphilis affect the reign of King Henry VIII? And did hemophilia play a role in bringing down Russia’s tsars? This comprehensive look at the ways diseases have shaped history is “fascinating and highly recommended” (Library Journal).
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Poetry
Ireland Associates Reflection – The Sacrament of Letting Go
by Máire Nic Gráinne, Secretary Carrickmacross Associates
“The Sacrament of Letting Go” by Macrina Wiederkehr
Slowly she celebrated the sacrament of
Letting Go.
First she surrendered her Green
Then the Orange, Yellow and Red
Finally she let go of her Brown.
Shedding her last leaf
She stood empty and silent, stripped bare
Leaning against the sky she began her vigil of trust.
Shedding her last leaf
She watched its journey to the ground.
She stood in silence,
Wearing the colour of emptiness
Her branches wondering:
How do you give shade, with so much gone?
And then, the sacrament of waiting began
The sunrise and sunset watched with
Tenderness, clothing her with silhouttes
They kept her hope alive.
They helped her understand that
Her vulnerability
Her dependence and need
Her emptiness
Her readiness to receive
Were giving her a new kind of beauty.
Every morning and every evening she stood in silence and celebrated
The sacrament of waiting.
The above poem really resonates with us here in the Carrickmacross Branch of the Associates, as we enter the season of Advent. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began to wreak havoc, we are acutely aware of all that has been lost. However, when we compare our losses to those who have watched loved ones die, in isolation, become impoverished, or have had their lives turned upside down, we have little to complain about. What do we miss here? We feel more fragile and, stripped of all certainties, we are more aware of how vulnerable we are. We have learned too, much about our dependence and need, and feel thankful for the guidance from the experts.
We are also in the middle of a climate crisis, with dire predictions of deluges and terrible fires. The English mystic, Julian of Norwich, lived during the plague known as the Black Death. The city suffered the devastating effects of the plague and Julian, from the seclusion of her cell, retained hope and optimism. She could still say, “All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.”
Fear can paralyze us, and we must still ourselves and be in the present moment. St John of the Cross likened human suffering to the clouds crossing the moon. He noted that we tend to follow the clouds instead of keeping our eyes firmly fixed on the moon. Therefore, the desert periods of life can easily obscure our vision of God, given to us that we would live joyfully. Like the tree, we must wait in hopeful expectation that greener days are ahead.
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New coal plant generating electricity in Japan
This plant alone will emit more than seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
Japanese government decided to build 22 new coal-fired power stations, to run on cheap coal imported from Australia.
So why the coal? The answer is the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
In 2010 about one third of Japan's electricity came from nuclear power, and there were plans to build a lot more. But then the 2011 disaster hit, and all Japan's nuclear power plants were shut down. Ten years later most remain closed - and there is a lot of resistance to restarting them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59525480
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Triclosan is used in thousands of different consumer products. Although the FDA banned triclosan in hand soaps and body washes in 2016, citing safety concerns and skepticism that triclosan worked any better than regular soap and water, it’s still very widely used in other products. Naturally, it finds its way into the human body—especially through everyday toothpaste use—with the research team pointing out that a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found traces of TCA in 75 percent of urine samples in American individuals. It’s among the top 10 biggest pollutants of U.S rivers.
https://www.popsci.com/triclosan-gut-inflammation/
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According to the United Nations, 78% of Lebanese now live below the poverty line, as compared to less than 30% before the onset of the crisis in late 2019, widely blamed on decades of corruption among Lebanon’s ruling class.
Since that time, the Lebanese pound has lost some 90% of its value against the dollar, leaving many people unable to afford basic necessities. Between October 2019 and September 2021, food prices increased by 1,870%, according to figures from Lebanon’s Central Administration of Statistics.
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