The ouragan de gloire (literally, "hurricane of glory") that has followed in her wake in the last hundred years, is a supreme sign of hope for our age. As St. Thérèse lies in her glass coffin in the chapel of the Lisieux Carmel, her effigy looking for all the world like a latter-day sleeping beauty, surrounded by the flowers brought to her in her turn by grateful recipients of her heavenly roses, it is easy to imagine the joy of awakening in eternity, out of the "shadows and imaginings" (J.H. Newman) of this world. For it is the simple and uncompromising science of love which she practised, the transforming exchange she effected between her heart and the Heart of her Saviour, which resulted in her being declared, like her more obviously active forebear, St. Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church. For hers is the medicine, and the teaching, for our complicated times

When a man walks in the fear of God he knows no fear, even if he
were to be surrounded by wicked men. He has the fear of God within
him and wears the invincible armor of faith. This makes him strong
and able to take on anything, even things which seem difficult or
impossible to most people. Such a man is like a giant surrounded
by monkeys, or a roaring lion among dogs and foxes. He goes
forward trusting in the Lord and the constancy of his will to
strike and paralyze his foes. He wields the blazing club of the
Word in wisdom.

St. Symeon the New Theologian,

These are 3 of my companions. Coucal ( the ground nesting cuckoo ) , C.T. the Cane Toad and Palmer ( about as big as my hand. ) Nothing like a Hill to bring in the Companions.

WHICH ONE OF THESE IS THE NORMAL CHILD ?
A characteristic of the normal child is he

doesn't act that way very often.....Unknown.
( What's with those dresses ? )

Try this link - http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/cmo-retreat.html

This is a Rolheiser and Creighton Freak here. Hello out there. Hello.

Commandments For Making Friends

Ron Rolheiser OMI
January 1, 2001

More than twenty-five hundred years ago, Moses gave us the ten commandments. The centuries since, the Enlightenment notwithstanding, haven't given us a single reason to doubt the validity and importance of any of those precepts. However, as we struggle to live out them out, it might be helpful if Moses again descended from that same mountain with two new tablets of stone, spelling out some rules for better befriending each other, God, life, and ourselves. Perhaps this second set of commandments might read like this:

1) Befriend humanity ...

To be human is to be fallible, wounded, scarred, sinful, and living in a far-from-perfect history, body, family, church. Don't look for anyone to blame, to sue, to be angry at. This is called the human condition. Make friends with it. Grieve, don't rage. Think of chaos, not blame. Our parents called this "original sin". We talk of "dysfunctional families". It has ever been thus. Don't live in a sulk.

2) Befriend what's best in you ...

As long as we look out at the world through our wounds we will always fill with self-pity, bitterness, and jealousy. If, however, if we look out through the prism of what's best in us, our jealousy can turn to appreciation and we can again be astonished at others' goodness. We have two souls, a grand soul, where we carry the image of God and the memory of our blessings, and a petty soul, where we carry the bitterness and jealousies that comes from our wounds. We need to attach our eyes, our ears, our speech, and our attitudes to our grand soul. We need to be better friends with what's best in us.

3) Befriend those who love you ...

There are only two potential tragedies in life: To go through life and never love and to go through life and not express love and affection to those who love us. We need to make better friends with our friends, to express more readily our affection, our gratitude, our appreciation, and our contrition. Thank those who love you for loving you. Never take their love for granted, or as owed. Give out a lot more compliments. Say thank-you constantly.

4) Befriend chastity ...

So much of our pain and restlessness comes from our lack of chastity and much of our subsequent rationalization and bitterness come from not admitting this. We have sophisticated ourselves into unhappiness. For all of our knowing, we aren't happy. Make friends with chastity. Children and virgins, scripture assures us, enter the kingdom easily. Be post-sophisticated. Learn to believe in Santa and the Easter-Bunny again. Enjoy second-naivete. Ride a merry-go-round. Make a searing, honest confession soon.

5) Befriend your own body ...

Don't be afraid of your own body, of its goodness, its sexuality, its pleasures, its tiredness, its limits. It's the only one you've got in any case. Befriend it. Don't punish it, don't spoil it, don't denigrate it. It's a church, a temple. Give it enough rest, enough exercise, enough discipline, and enough respect.

6) Befriend the other gender ...

The mothers and the fathers, the wives and the husbands, are fighting. Small wonder the children are suffering. Never trivialize the issues of gender. We are being called to a new level of mutual respect and mutual sympathy. Make friends with what seems most threatening to you in the other gender.

7) Befriend your father ...

Father-hunger is one of the deepest hungers in the Western world today. Reconcile with your own father, with other fathers, and with God the Father. Your father's blessing will de-constrict your heart. Forgive him his inadequacy. Acknowledge your hunger.

8) Befriend your mortality ...

Death comes to us all. Make friends with aging, with wrinkles, with grey hair, with a body that is no longer young. Accept, let go, grieve, move on. Bless the young. Share your wisdom with them. Give away what's left of your life. Let the zest, beauty, and colour of young people enliven you.

9) Befriend humour ...

In our laughter we taste transcendence. Humour takes us above the tragic. Laughter gives us wings to fly. Thomas More cracked a joke to the man who was about to behead him. That's a quality of sanctity that we too often neglect.

10) Befriend your God ...

The gospel is not so much good advice as it is "good news", it tells us how much God loves us, what God has already done for us. God is as proud of us as is any mother of her children. Peace comes to us when we can enjoy that favour. Befriend the God of love and the God of the resurrection, the God who is completely relaxed, whose face beams like a marvellous symphony, whose power to raise dead bodies from the grave assures us that in the end all will be well and all will be well and every manner of being well be well. Befriend the God who tells us 365 times in scripture not to be afraid. Walk in that confidence.

A story from the Desert Fathers. " Abbot Lot went to see Abbot Joseph and said -' Father according as I am able , I keep my little rule, and my little fast and my little meditation and contemplative silence - now what more should i do ?' The Elder rose in reply and stretched out his hands to Heaven and his fingers became like lamps of fire . He said -
' WHY NOT BECOME ALL FLAME ? "

Your week ahead: This end of the stick has cloth wrapped around it. Even in the dark, you can tell by running your finger along it until you reach the material. The other end is sharp. Someone has been whittling it into a point. So, now, you know how to avoid getting hold of the wrong end of the stick this week. What do you do, though, if someone else is holding it in an inappropriate way? How do you deal with this week's misunderstandings and awkward assumptions? By remaining good humoured, by being 'suspicious of certainty' and by allowing a little positive magic to find its way into even the most seemingly uninspiring situation

Wild Life Park .
for Large Animals.