Thursday, July 07, 2022

Independence Day: Don't Declare Victory Till the Job is Done

July 4th, 2022


The stirring words of the Declaration of Independence have inspired Americans for generation after generation.  It is well to remember that within six months, the British had captured Philadelphia, the new born country's capital and largest city.  It was a few short months until the remnants of Washington's army was huddled in the bleak winter of 1776-7 at Valley Forge.  The British had amassed victory after victory, the troops were freezing and starving in the cruel winter, and desertions were rampant.   So less than six months past the signing of the Declaration, the American cause was at its lowest, seemingly hopeless and outgunned.   

Washington. their General, having learned conventional war tactics with the help of such as Lafayette and von Steuben and his own experiences in unconventional tactics in the French and Indian wars, realized he had to translate the American's competitive advantages and his own inspiration into a win or two when all seemed lost.  The Americans' superior local knowledge and unconventional tactics are reminiscent of Ukraine's tactics in its current war defending its land and people from Russian aggression.  The daring counter attacks at Trenton and Princeton, Benedict Arnold's impossible victory at Saratoga (while under house arrest), and the French alliance, were still in the future.

Winning the Revolution required stirring words: yes, but also guts, leadership, diplomacy, and foreign help.  As we grill, watch fireworks, and celebrate, be grateful for the patriotism of  those who fought in that and subsequent wars including so many members of our own families. 

On this day, my thoughts keep returning to the patriots of Ukraine who with 

Ukraine flag map postcard | Zazzle.com | Ukraine flag, Flag, Postcard

guts, leadership, diplomacy, and foreign help, have defended their land and people.  Their successes have surprised our intelligence community, vindicated Britain's training after Russia's land grabs of 2014, and inspired the world.  Unfortunately Putin's judgement that Ukraine's struggle will fade from the headlines has been too true.  

The war is not over until the job is done!

Our Lady appeared in Ukraine in 1914 and 1987 in Hurushiv.  Her first appearance was shortly before World War I started.  She appeared to 12 year old Marina Kirzin.  She continued to visit Hurushiv until August 15th, a date special to my heart.  The second time Mary visited Hurushiv was in 1987, this time to two young girls, similar in age to another member of my family.  As many as a half million people visited the sites of the apparitions.

The ailing John Paul II visited Ukraine in 2001 as pictured below.

Our Lady of the Ukraine | Divine Mysteries and Miracles


On August 27, 2002, Olenka Kuruts was ten years old, and her friend, Mar’yanka Kobal, was nine years old, when Our Lady appeared to them.  Eventually the bishop Marhitych, visited the site.

Our Lady of Ukraine pray for these people and for America.


Friday, March 18, 2022

Appreciation: Len Scigaj

 

  • 1080/14688417.2006.10589013
  • Corpus ID: 178658769
  • Appreciation: Len Scigaj

    https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Appreciation%3A-Len-Scigaj-Gifford/e9a41241bbbaeb8c3014eb6c3a25299b0b28231a

    Friday, October 30, 2020

    Washed in the Blood of the Lamb:

     

    Paying tribute in front of the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice following Thursday’s knife attack.

    ARNOLD JEROCKI/GETTY IMAGES

    An Islamist terrorist killed three worshippers in Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, France  The alleged attacker shouted “Allahu akbar” before being shot and detained.  He appears to be responding to a call from Al Queda to attack France.


    Solemnity of All Saints

    Reading 1 


    I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
    holding the seal of the living God.
    He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
    who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
    “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
    until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
    I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
    one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
    from every tribe of the children of Israel.

    After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
    which no one could count,
    from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
    They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
    wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
    They cried out in a loud voice:
    “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
    and from the Lamb.”

    All the angels stood around the throne
    and around the elders and the four living creatures.
    They prostrated themselves before the throne,
    worshiped God, and exclaimed:
    “Amen.  Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
    honor, power, and might
    be to our God forever and ever.  Amen."

    Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
    “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
    I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.”
    He said to me,
    “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
    they have washed their robes
    and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

    Monday, March 02, 2020

    March 2nd: St. Chad, Patron of disputed elections

     St. Chad

    Today, March 2nd, is St. Chad's feast day.  In today's hyper political and partisan times in the U.S. and elsewhere, his humility would be welcome.  He is considered the patron saint of disputed elections, a fact that was a great irony in the wake of the 2000 presidential contest between Bush the Younger and Mr. Gore.

    You may read his story in Ronald Knox's sermons given while with school girls exiled to the country from London during the Blitz.

    Tuesday, March 13, 2018

    Back Pain

    Why Back Pain Is Nearly Non-Existent In Some Populations





    https://www.npr.org/2016/07/04/484647073/why-back-pain-is-nearly-non-existent-in-some-populations


    Lost Art Of Bending Over: How Other Cultures Spare Their Spines





    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/26/587735283/lost-art-of-bending-over-how-other-cultures-spare-their-spines




    Lost Posture: Why Some Indigenous Cultures May Not Have Back Pain



    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/08/412314701/lost-posture-why-indigenous-cultures-dont-have-back-pain

    https://www.npr.org/series/5251891/ah-my-aching-back



    Wednesday, February 21, 2018

    "The St. James Infirmary Blues

    Janis Joplin Doing "The St. James Infirmary Blues

    Of Caesar and God

    More of the American republic's founders may have been children of the Scottish Enlightenment than the French, but all us Americans are children of the enlightenment in some way. 

    Ralph Woods reviewed Jonathan Rogers's The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor.  Woods makes an excellent point:

    When Christians have been decisively shaped by their Enlightenment heritage, they are not likely to discern the drastic difference between the agenda of the state and the witness of the Church. Though sometimes overlapping, they are never coterminous. The prophetic and sacramental body of Christ, as O'Connor saw from the start, will scandalize even the best political regimes. 

    You will enjoy the whole review.