23 February 2020
Msgr. Pope on the Need for Moderation - Even in Learning
"A while back on this blog we reflected
on the puzzling truth that we can endure more pain than pleasure. We
seem to be able to endure a lot of pain, but we can endure only a little
pleasure at a time. In fact, too much pleasure actually brings pain:
sickness, hangovers, obesity, addiction, laziness, and even boredom.
You can read more of that HERE. But the point is that pleasures and good things are only enjoyed in moderation.
"Something similar may be said for wisdom and knowledge. We learn best in small portions. . . ."
In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on the importance of learning and gaining wisdom slowly and in stages - including moderation in material and time at one sitting.
To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:
Community in Mission: On the Need for Moderation, Even in Learning. (17 FEB 20)
"Something similar may be said for wisdom and knowledge. We learn best in small portions. . . ."
In a recent commentary, Monsignor Charles Pope (pastor of Holy Comforter-Saint Cyprian Parish, Washington, DC) reflected on the importance of learning and gaining wisdom slowly and in stages - including moderation in material and time at one sitting.
To access Msgr. Pope's complete post, please visit:
Community in Mission: On the Need for Moderation, Even in Learning. (17 FEB 20)
Reflection Starter from Pope Francis
"We received life not to bury it, but to put it into play; not to keep it, but to give it. Whoever is with Jesus knows that the secret to possessing life is to give it." - Pope Francis
22 February 2020
Jack Johnson: "Better Together"
As this blessed week draws to a close, I offer this version of Jack Johnson presenting "Better Together":
The Discoverer: The Coolest Buildings Around the World
"Residential, commercial, or industrial, we love it when architects go to
town with an original design. Whether they build something quirky,
unique, or just plain funky, witnessing their creative vision brought to
life is one of the reasons we love to travel. Here are our picks for
the ten coolest buildings from around the world."
Recently the blog The Discoverer posted this item about what its author considered the coolest buildings around the world. Included in the list is the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona.
To access the complete post, please visit:
The Discoverer: The 10 Coolest Buildings from Around the World
Recently the blog The Discoverer posted this item about what its author considered the coolest buildings around the world. Included in the list is the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona.
To access the complete post, please visit:
The Discoverer: The 10 Coolest Buildings from Around the World
On Dangerous Dams, a Restored 1962 Cadillac Hearse in Active Service, and Other New England Topics
A number of articles/posts have recently been published on a variety of New England-related subjects worth considering.
To access some of these, please visit:
The Taunton (MA) Daily Gazette: Dighton 13-year-old cheerleads up a storm despite disabilities (20 SE 19)
Connecticut Post: Connecticut's potentially dangerous dams (20 NOV 19)
The Valley Breeze (Greenville, RI): Providence Street ministry offering free haircuts for kids (11 SEP 19)
The Brattleboro (VT) Reformer: With challenge, skier reaffirms Vermont's beauty (12 JAN 20)
Providence (RI) Journal: Providence police throw open the barn door (5 OCT 19)
The Working Waterfront (Rockland, ME): Lobstering women: Heroic haulers of traps (30 AUG 19)
The Recorder (Greenfield, MA): Taking that final ride in style: Funeral director restores '62 Cadillac hearse (18 FEB 20)
Bangor (ME) Daily News: New sober house in Bangor allows men ‘to be done with that lifestyle’ after prison
The Hour (Norwalk, CT): How quaint: 1985 documentary on Westport features local celebrities (17 OCT 19)
WMUR-TV (Manchester, NH): Police department disbanded, chief protests by walking home in underwear (19 FEB 20)
The Pilot (Boston, MA): The Boys' Choir of St. Paul's Choir School embarks on European Tour (7 FEB 20)
WPRI-TV (East Providence, RI): Rhode Island Fire Memorial dedicated to the state’s fallen firefighters (26 OCT 19)
To access some of these, please visit:
The Taunton (MA) Daily Gazette: Dighton 13-year-old cheerleads up a storm despite disabilities (20 SE 19)
Connecticut Post: Connecticut's potentially dangerous dams (20 NOV 19)
The Valley Breeze (Greenville, RI): Providence Street ministry offering free haircuts for kids (11 SEP 19)
The Brattleboro (VT) Reformer: With challenge, skier reaffirms Vermont's beauty (12 JAN 20)
Providence (RI) Journal: Providence police throw open the barn door (5 OCT 19)
The Working Waterfront (Rockland, ME): Lobstering women: Heroic haulers of traps (30 AUG 19)
The Recorder (Greenfield, MA): Taking that final ride in style: Funeral director restores '62 Cadillac hearse (18 FEB 20)
Bangor (ME) Daily News: New sober house in Bangor allows men ‘to be done with that lifestyle’ after prison
The Hour (Norwalk, CT): How quaint: 1985 documentary on Westport features local celebrities (17 OCT 19)
WMUR-TV (Manchester, NH): Police department disbanded, chief protests by walking home in underwear (19 FEB 20)
The Pilot (Boston, MA): The Boys' Choir of St. Paul's Choir School embarks on European Tour (7 FEB 20)
WPRI-TV (East Providence, RI): Rhode Island Fire Memorial dedicated to the state’s fallen firefighters (26 OCT 19)
Happy Birthday, George Washington
Today is George Washington’s birthday. Washington, the first
President of the United States (under the U.S. Constitution), is
considered by many people to be one of the greatest Presidents the U.S.
has had.
This is an excerpt from his official White House brief biography:
"Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
"He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
"From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.
"When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
"He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, 'we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.' Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies - he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
"Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President.
"He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
"To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.
"Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him."
A selection of quotes from George Washington:
"The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim." (in a letter to Colonel Bassett, 25 April 1773)
"By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho' death was levelling my companions on every side." (in a letter to John A. Washington, 18 July 1755)
"“Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people." (to Marquis de Lafayette, Mount Vernon, 29 January 1789)
"I am sure the mass of citizens in these United States mean well, and I firmly believe they will always act well whenever they can obtain a right understanding of matters; but in some parts of the Union, where the sentiments of their delegates and leaders are adverse to the government, and great pains are taken to inculcate a belief that their rights are assailed and their liberties endangered, it is not easy to accomplish this; especially, as is the case invariably, when the inventors and abettors of pernicious measures use infinite more industry in disseminating the poison than the well disposed part of the community to furnish the antidote." (in a letter to John Jay, 8 May 1796)
For a chronology of George Washington's life, please visit:
Smithsonian Institution: George Washington ' A National Treasure: Chronology
Other information/media posts:
The Catholic Thing: Happy Birthday, George Washington (21 FEB 20)
Foundations Magazine: George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
This is an excerpt from his official White House brief biography:
"Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
"He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
"From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.
"When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
"He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, 'we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.' Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies - he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
"Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President.
"He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
"To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.
"Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"The ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim." (in a letter to Colonel Bassett, 25 April 1773)
"By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability and expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho' death was levelling my companions on every side." (in a letter to John A. Washington, 18 July 1755)
"“Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people." (to Marquis de Lafayette, Mount Vernon, 29 January 1789)
"I am sure the mass of citizens in these United States mean well, and I firmly believe they will always act well whenever they can obtain a right understanding of matters; but in some parts of the Union, where the sentiments of their delegates and leaders are adverse to the government, and great pains are taken to inculcate a belief that their rights are assailed and their liberties endangered, it is not easy to accomplish this; especially, as is the case invariably, when the inventors and abettors of pernicious measures use infinite more industry in disseminating the poison than the well disposed part of the community to furnish the antidote." (in a letter to John Jay, 8 May 1796)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Smithsonian Institution: George Washington ' A National Treasure: Chronology
Other information/media posts:
The Catholic Thing: Happy Birthday, George Washington (21 FEB 20)
Foundations Magazine: George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
Matt D’Antuono on Misinformation, Science, and the Church
"Students came into my high school class on Monday claiming that it
was the only day a broom would stand on its own because of the moon's
position. Since I am their physics teacher, they thought they should let
me know about the phenomenon they had discovered and the proof that was
flooding social media. Pictures and videos of people standing brooms on
end (#broomstickchallenge) flooded the internet. My students asked me
to explain how the moon could bring about such a fascinating result.
"When I was first asked about it, I was perplexed because I understand the physics behind gravitational pulls and the phases of the moon. I thought briefly about it, and then I told my student I didn't quite know how to make sense of it. I would have to check it out and get back to her.
It came up again the next day in another class. I took the time to look it up right then. . . . . I quickly realized that it was a hoax. I asked my students to find the original statement from NASA, which they were unable to do. Thankfully, scientific authorities also started correcting the misinformation and news channels explained the error. Brooms can be stood on end any time of the year because of the base and the low center of gravity, and it has nothing to do with the moon.
"But someone HAD in fact claimed that NASA said it. And a whole population of social media users were convinced of the statement's veracity. Most of my students probably never would have seen the response statements from NASA and other news outlets if I had not alerted them to them.
"This event reminded me of how easily bad information can become a part of 'what everyone knows.'"
In a recent commentary, writer Matt D’Antuono reflected on misinformation about the relationship between science and the church.
To access Mr. D’Antuono's complete post, please visit:
National Catholic Register: Blogs: Matt D'Antuono: The Broomstick Hoax and the Truth About Galileo (12 FEB 20)
"When I was first asked about it, I was perplexed because I understand the physics behind gravitational pulls and the phases of the moon. I thought briefly about it, and then I told my student I didn't quite know how to make sense of it. I would have to check it out and get back to her.
It came up again the next day in another class. I took the time to look it up right then. . . . . I quickly realized that it was a hoax. I asked my students to find the original statement from NASA, which they were unable to do. Thankfully, scientific authorities also started correcting the misinformation and news channels explained the error. Brooms can be stood on end any time of the year because of the base and the low center of gravity, and it has nothing to do with the moon.
"But someone HAD in fact claimed that NASA said it. And a whole population of social media users were convinced of the statement's veracity. Most of my students probably never would have seen the response statements from NASA and other news outlets if I had not alerted them to them.
"This event reminded me of how easily bad information can become a part of 'what everyone knows.'"
In a recent commentary, writer Matt D’Antuono reflected on misinformation about the relationship between science and the church.
To access Mr. D’Antuono's complete post, please visit:
National Catholic Register: Blogs: Matt D'Antuono: The Broomstick Hoax and the Truth About Galileo (12 FEB 20)
Reflection Starter from Washington Irving
"An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather." - Washington Irving
21 February 2020
Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
It's time for some classical music. This is a presentation of Frederic Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in e-minor (Op. 11), as presented by the Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio with Olga Scheps on piano, conducted by Agnieszka Duczmal:
Thank You, Lord
Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of those who work to maintain telephone, electric, and cable lines.
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