Major Fire Strikes Former Mill in West Paris, ME

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, 29 January, a fire heavily damaged the former Penley Mill on Penley Avenue (Route 219), West Paris, ME. The initial alarm was struck at approximately 0130 hours.

Among the units assisting the West Paris Fire Department were companies from Mechanic Falls, Norway, Oxford, Paris, and Poland.

Media reports:

Sun Journal: Penley Mill burns in West Paris, nearby fireworks warehouse saved (30 JAN 13)

WCSH-TV: West Paris community mourns loss of historic mill (29 JAN 13)

WGME-TV: Massive Warehouse Fire In West Paris (29 JAN 13)

WWMJ-FM: Penley Mill Burned to the Ground in West Paris Maine (30 JAN 13)

WMTW-TV: Cause of West Paris mill fire undetermined (30 JAN 13)

Sun Journal: Official says cause of Penley Mill fire cannot be determined (31 JAN 13)

Background information:

West Paris Fire Department

Town of West Paris

Wikipedia: West Paris, Maine

Google Map: Penley Avenue (Route 219) at Greenwood Street, West Paris, ME

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The assigned readings are Malachi 3:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18, and Luke 2:22-40. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 24 (Psalm 24:7-10).

The Gospel reading is as follows:

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Reflections on this feast day:

American Catholic: Saint of the Day: Presentation of the Lord

National Catholic Register: Jimmy Akin: What's happening at the Presentation of the Lord? (30 JAN 13)

Dives in Misericordia: “The Mercy of God in the Mission of the Church” (15, continued)

Chapter 8 of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Prayer of the Church in Our Times.” It continues as follows:

“15. . . . And, if any of our contemporaries do not share the faith and hope which lead me, as a servant of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God,¹³⁸ to implore God's mercy for humanity in this hour of history, let them at least try to understand the reason for my concern. It is dictated by love for man, for all that is human and which, according to the intuitions of many of our contemporaries, is threatened by an immense danger. The mystery of Christ, which reveals to us the great vocation of man and which led me to emphasize in the encyclical Redemptor hominis his incomparable dignity, also obliges me to proclaim mercy as God’s merciful love, revealed in that same mystery of Christ. It likewise obliges me to have recourse to that mercy and to beg for it at this difficult, critical phase of the history of the Church and of the world, as we approach the end of the second millennium.”

138. Cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1.

 

To access the complete document, please visit:

Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”

Background information:

Pope John Paul II: Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979)

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for well-made products that serve Your people for extended periods of time and for those who design, manufacture, distribute, and maintain them.

Catholics Come Home and the Televised Football Market

“The 47th Super Bowl will draw an audience of more than 100 million, but with its television ad spots selling at $6-$7 million apiece, Tom Peterson of Catholics Come Home admits that the possibility of buying one is ‘financially out of our league.’

“But the founder of the 15-year-old Catholic evangelization organization, which airs inspirational television messages to persuade people to return to church, doesn’t intend to fumble away the Super Bowl season just because of the money issue.

“As the NFL playoffs commenced in early January, Peterson was scrambling to raise the funding to broadcast Catholics Come Home ads during playoff games, including one just before the kickoff of the Atlanta Falcons’ first home playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. The Falcons won 30-28 on a last-second field goal.”

A recent article in the National Catholic Register examined the efforts being made by Catholics Come Home to reach viewers in the televised football market.

To access the complete National Catholic Register article, please visit:

National Catholic Register: Driving for the End Zone of Faith (30 JAN 13)

Background information:

Catholics Come Home

Catholics Come Home: 30-second Ad with Lou Holtz

Reflection Starter from Mother Teresa

"We are at Jesus' disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that's all right, everything is all right. We must say, 'I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.' And this is our strength. This is the joy of the Lord." – Mother Teresa (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta)

Pro-Life Pharmacists Stand Up for Their Beliefs

“When third-generation pharmacist Mike Koelzer learned from a cousin that birth-control pills had an abortifacient mechanism, he was torn between two fathers. On the one hand, the 20-something nominal Catholic was confident that his dad, the owner of Kay Pharmacy in Grand Rapids, Mich., knew what he was doing. In his eyes, Dad certainly had all the answers when it came to the family business. On the other hand, he sensed that this wasn’t right in the eyes of the Church and wanted to honor his heavenly Father.”

A recent article in the National Catholic Register examined the challenges facing pharmacists who conscientiously reject dispensing drugs that violate their religious beliefs.

To access the complete article, please visit:

National Catholic Register: Pro-Life Pharmacists Stand Up for Their Beliefs (20 JAN 13)

Background information:

Pharmacists for Life International

American Center for Law and Justice

A Choir of 10000 Singing “Ode to Joy”

In this video, an amateur choir of 10000 voices, in Osaka, Japan, is singing “Ode an die Freude” (“Ode to Joy”) from the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9:

According to Conscious Life News, this concert, an annual event, was dedicated to the memory of the victims of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011.

Thank you, Myrna, for the tip!

Dives in Misericordia: “The Mercy of God in the Mission of the Church” (15, continued)

Chapter 8 of “Dives in Misericordia” (“Rich in Mercy”) is entitled “The Prayer of the Church in Our Times.” It continues as follows:

“15. . . . Let us offer up our petitions, directed by the faith, by the hope, and by the charity which Christ has planted in our hearts. This attitude is likewise love of God, whom modern man has sometimes separated far from himself, made extraneous to himself, proclaiming in various ways that God is ‘superfluous.’ This is, therefore, love of God, the insulting rejection of whom by modern man we feel profoundly, and we are ready to cry out with Christ on the cross: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’¹³⁷ At the same time it is love of people, of all men and women without any exception or division: without difference of race, culture, language, or world outlook, without distinction between friends and enemies. This is love for people – it desires every true good for each individual and for every human community, every family, every nation, every social group, for young people, adults, parents, the elderly – a love for everyone, without exception. This is love, or rather an anxious solicitude to ensure for each individual every true good and to remove and drive away every sort of evil.”

 

137. Luke 23:34.

To access the complete document, please visit:

Pope John Paul II: “Dives in Misericordia”

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for opportunities to unite our discomforts and sufferings with the passion and death of Jesus.

A Journal de Rome Interview with Saint John Bosco

Yesterday, 31 January, the Church celebrated the memory of Saint John Bosco.

“A unique event marks the year 1884 in the life of Don Bosco. He gives his first and only press interview to a French journalist writing for the Journal de Rome.”

In a recent post in his blog, “Padre Steve,” a Salesian priest, posted an excerpt of this interview.

To access the complete post, please visit:

Da Mihi Animas: An Interview with Saint John Bosco (30 JAN 13)

Reflection Starter from James Russell Miller

“If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.” – James Russell Miller