Friday, July 24th 2015

Phototropism

Think of the rays of the sunflower.

Observe how it bends toward the light.

Growth directed toward a light source

is called positive phototropism.

Question we can each ask in the 

silence of our own heart: 

Whose light am I leaning toward?

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Sonoma County, CA

It will become our spiritual drink.

For those who are Catholic, these words of

consecration ring with meaning. Do you recall the

bells when everything else was in Latin? That 

moment?

As an EM (Eucharistic Minister) one is blessed

to be giving the cup of salvation to fellow 

members of the community. An awesome 

privilege--humbling.

May it be that we always share Love 

with those who are not at our table, knowing 

OUR FATHER is FATHER OF ALL.

July 20th 2015

IN SANTA ROSA, CA

At the Home & Garden of Luther Burbank

Your camera will find joy!

Enter. The day will not be long enough. . . .

July 16th 2015

TRAVEL 

When you travel by car and you are lucky enough
to be the passenger, your thoughts drift and sway.
If you have a camera . . .  there is never a dull moment.

     Window on the road
                 with
       rear-view mirror.

There is no right or wrong answer:

Do you enjoy looking ahead
or do you appreciate the journey
for where you have been?

The insightful and inspirational 

travel writer Pico Iyer says that 

we travel to find ourselves.

        Safe Travels!

Happy birthday wishes today to 

those who are headed into another year. 

July 4th 2015

Blessings on this Fourth of July Holiday

On this day we commemorate the approval of
Our Declaration of Independence.

            May freedom continue to bloom 

         in every corner of our beautiful world.

        Something for those who may have never

               heard Kate Smith--and others

          you're allowed that tear of nostalgia. . .

Kate Smith, God Bless America

Sunday June 28th 2015

Beautiful Goodbye

Heaven blesses us. 

For those who did not see the sunset tonight

in Southern California. . . Farewell to the day.

However, the greatest gift we are given in life are the

souls that bless us with their goodness. 

Today in our parish we said goodbye to a beloved

priest, who is being reassigned after six years.

There were tears, yes. And smiles.

Father Agustine Escobar is a priest filled with joy,

and sanctity, and humility. He personifies the type

of priest that Francois Mauriac wrote about:

HOLY PRIESTS

By

Francois Mauriac
(1885-1970)

People say that there is a scarcity of priests.  In truth, what an adorable mystery it is that there still are any priests!  They no longer have any human advantage.  Celibacy, solitude, hatred very often, derision and, above all, the indifference of a world in which there seems to be no longer room for them - - such is the portion they have chosen.  They have no apparent power; their task sometimes seems to be centered about material things, identifying them, in the eyes of the masses, with the staffs of town halls and of funeral parlors.  A pagan atmosphere prevails all around them.  The people would laugh at their virtue if they believed in it, but they do not.  They are spied upon.  A thousand voices accuse those who fall. 

 As for the others, the great number, no one is surprised to see them toiling without any sort of recognition, without appreciable salary, bending over the bodies of the dying, or ambling about the parish schoolyards….

 For centuries, since the first Holy Thursday, some men have chosen to become objects of hatred, without expecting any human consolation.  They have chosen to lose their lives because once Someone made them the seemingly foolish promise:  “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My Sake will find it.” 

 But if they did not find their joy even in this world, would they persevere?  “What are You going to do?” said Abbe Perreyve to Christ, the day before he was ordained.  “You are delivering Yourself;  You are abandoning Yourself to me.  You surrender your Body to me.  I shall use it for my needs and for the needs of other souls…I shall touch You, I shall carry You, I shall handle You and You will allow me to do it;  I shall place You on the lips of whom I will;  You will never Refuse….”

 Indeed, Priests, holy priests, are repaid by an immense Love.

Francoise Mauriac; Catholic writer who won the Noble Prize (1952) in literature. 

                          (from Holy Thursday An Intimate Remembrance)