God is watching

In high school I was in the chorus, and we sang "Poor Man Lazarus" by Jester Hairston. We loved singing it: "Poor man Lazarus, sick and disabled. Dip your finger in the water, come and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in the flames. He had to eat crumbs from the rich man's table. Dip your finger in the water, come and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in the flames. Rich man Divies, he lived so well. Dip your finger in the water, come and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in the flames. And when he died, he went straight to hell! Dip your finger in the water, come and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in the flames."
There are other verses, but I can't remember them. We definitely sang "straight to hell" with great gusto, as we were encouraged to do by the director. I don't know where the name Divies came from, but it isn't in scripture. 

Anyway, the gospel reading today was the story of Lazarus and the rich man. I wish I could remember how Father put it, but he pointed out that we don't know the rich man's name - he gave up his identity in favor of his many possessions. Now, that's an interesting thought. Not a memorable life. 

"We have read that everything that was good came the rich man's way, and everything that was bad came the poor man's way; nevertheless, such adversities did not crush the poor man, nor did all this prosperity do the rich man any good....Adversities neither straighten out the lazy nor overcome the strong, since it is neither one's material prosperity nor poverty but one's character that either leads the grateful to their reward or leads the ungrateful away to their punishment.

The poor man, full of sores, is stationed at the rich man's doorway, but this occurs not by some human coincidence, but by God's design, in order that the contest between the rich and the poor man play itself out on earth and have its audience in heaven. God was watching, the angels were watching the unique competition between the rich and the poor man. The rich stood all decked out in the armor of his riches, and by contrast the poor man was lying clothed only in his very flesh. The rich man was protected by throngs of servants; the poor man, his skin torn away, was being prodded by his stinging pain. The rich man was hurling spears of heartlessness, while Lazarus was repelling them with his shield of compassion.... Why should I say more? The poor man was victorious [even with] his flesh trampled underfoot, but fully armed from above, he made his ascent into the spiritual realm...."

                                           -  St. Peter Chrysologus, from Magnificat, September, 2025

the end of the birthday cake?

Well, it's fall. Our days are shorter than our nights now. I am getting up later and later, because I just love to get up when it's just lightening up, it seems so natural.  But I also dislike rushing in the morning, so I will have the find the happy medium.

I baked a pumpkin pie today; we have some new employees at the library and one has a birthday this week. It turns out she prefers pie to cake, so I'm going to bring a couple. Tomorrow after work I'll get the apple pie going - the crust dough is made and in the fridge. Another young co-worker admitted to me that she also prefers pie, and today at the dentist, the young girl who cleaned my teeth said the same! Is birthday cake going to become a thing of the past in this next generation? Where did the birthday cake idea begin? Cakes can be decorated so beautifully, and they serve more people, too. Which is why I'm making two pies.

We just had a little ruckus in here - there was an insect flying around and Daisy was after it. I got him in a tissue and when I came back to the laptop, Daisy was on my keyboard. There was another "window" open with a search for the 917 area code. How did she do that? And WHY?

may peace reign in your walls

 "I ask that all supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity."

                                                1 Timothy 2:1-2

"In a world and a Church sincerely devoted to doing many good works that could bring about peace, we might sometimes overlook the fact that the greatest work of all is prayer. We dare not abandon the good works, but let us remember that peace is ultimately God's desire and God's achievement: Let us pray earnestly, 'Thy will be done.'"

I rejoiced when I heard them say:
"Let us go to God's house."
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
"Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!"

For love of my brethren and friends
I say: "Peace upon you!"
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good

-  from Psalm 122

all the above from Magnificat, September 2025

God of day and God of darkness,
Now we stand before the night;
As the shadows stretch and deepen,
Come and make our darkness bright.
All creation still is groaning
For the dawning of your might,
When the Sun of peace and justice
Fills the earth with radiant light.

-  Marty Haugen

the last days of summer

The nasturtium bloomed. I was wondering if it would.

The other things on the front steps are in the pink family, so I'll have to figure something out. I have a yellow mum; it is the very end of summer; we'll see.

We had a couple of warmer days this week, with some humidity. By evening of that day, even the cats wouldn't eat until I put the air conditioners on. But today we were back to beautiful, and the sunlight had that golden quality. The light that shines between the leaves shimmered on the living room floor - even Daisy noticed. The days are closing in. 

Daisy sleeps in cute positions lately.

These were on different days. But she likes the back of that chair, where she can see outside if the front door is open.

I went out in the garden today and cut all the chives. Now they dry where Daisy can't reach.

It seems like a lot, but they're nice thrown in with scrambled eggs, and they won't last long.

There seems to be only one rabbit left around our property, after so many over the last few years. I have no idea if hawks or owls got some of them, or other predators. I often am running outside near the shrubs where I think some of them lived, chasing away a cat too close to the place. It's terrible. Dianne's fluffy yellow cats come by sometimes, and there's the gray cat who caught the baby bunny a year ago. But there's a third, a dark tabby with legs of a darker fur, and yesterday I caught him going into the bushes where I think they hide - the rabbit was a little way off and the cat didn't see him. I don't think a cat would attack a full-grown rabbit, but I went over there to try and flush him out, and I saw a mound of dried brush, with a hole in the middle of it. A cover for an animal, but I don't know who. I love cats, and I look at Annie and Daisy and know they would also kill for sport. But they're not going to, and these others are roaming around, terrorizing smaller creatures. And I have no idea if the rabbits have just moved on, or what. Why can't they just have peace?

"In God's hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mankind."

                                 -  Job 12:10

the tomato crop continues

 

feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

" Lord Jesus Christ, by your death on the cross, you triumphed over sin and death.
Raise our fallen world to the glory no human wisdom can expect, 
who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.  Amen."

-  from Magnificat, September, 2025

may he rest in peace

 Well, everyone's stunned by the sudden death of Charlie Kirk, assassinated by a sniper with a high-powered rifle. He must have been hired by someone - surely those with such a skill are known to the kind of people who want to force revolution on the world, who want to sidestep the order of the constitutional process. 

They are cowards, and they do not love their fellow beings. Gavin Ashenden has a lovely youtube meditation with his thoughts. It's just under ten minutes.

realizations

 

We're back to dry, cooler days after two or three of warm and humid; there was plenty of rain, too, including a thunderstorm Saturday. We needed it.

It occurred to me that if I'm having a hard time getting a sweater going on the knitting needles because my cast-ons are a bit tight, I should just cast onto a larger needle - I believe I used to know that. I'm gearing myself up to knit the Ranunculus sweater: I've got yarn - which I've had for years and should really do something with - but can't seem to get going. We'll see. Sometimes at the beginning of a project, I feel I'm all thumbs.

Now that it's cooler I'm letting myself use the oven more. And I suddenly remembered I can actually make the dough and bake one or two dozen, chill the rest and hardly heat up the kitchen at all! This is the kind of thing I've limited myself to all summer - not baking anything that takes more than half an hour. It's worked out well with fish or muffins, but why didn't I think of cookies? I tend to see them as a drawn-out business, having to bake tray after tray, find a place for them to cool away from cats, get something to store them in, etc. It's kind of the way I like to do everything - chipping away at it, a little at a time, here and there. And it's just a good idea to have some dessert-y thing around. 

soaking dry raisins

As Gretchen has mentioned, some Christians celebrated the birthday of the Virgin Mary today. 

Mary is the full flowering of the grace of Jesus Christ. To know her is to know what he has accomplished, what his victory has won. She shows in a singular manner what all of us are called to become...She is the realization of all that he has promised us.

                                                                                                    - Fr. Paul Scalia, from Magnificat

But she doesn't seem to age, according to all those she appears to around the world. ;-)

a thought for Labor Day

 I came across this somewhere and wrote it down. I just found it again today.

"Do not rush after the planned work. Trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."