Dinah Shore: "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)"

As this blessed week draws to a close, I offer this version of Dinah Shore presenting "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)":

 

Belated Birthday Blessings, Elisabeth!!!

Belated birthday greetings to niece Elisabeth Altshuler, whose recently celebrated her birthday!!! May each day of the upcoming year be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Belated Birthday Blessings, Greg!!!

Belated birthday greetings to (great-) nephew Greg Duggan, who recently celebrated his birthday!!! May each day of the coming year be richly blessed!!!

Belated Anniversary Blessings, Jackie and Steven!!!

Belated anniversary greetings to niece Jaclyn Marie and her husband Steven, who recently celebrated their wedding anniversary!!! May each day of the upcoming year be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the many ways in which You work though Your people to promote respect for life.

The Guidance of Padre Pio

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. God is merciful and will hear your prayer." This is the advice Saint Padre Pio gave to his spiritual children in the many communications he had with them throughout his life. What an amazing privilege it must have been to have known Padre Pio, the great Italian saint of the 20th century who bore the stigmata. More amazing still is that Padre Pio extended the invitation for all Americans to be his spiritual children on the condition of keeping and practicing the faith.

Padre Pio expressed this invitation to an American soldier named Joe Peluso who paid him a visit during World War II. Peluso had received a letter from his mother while he was stationed in Italy. She encouraged her son to seek out Padre Pio, though she did not know what part of the country he lived in. When Peluso asked his chaplain, the chaplain laughed and pointed to a nearby mountain and said, "Padre Pio lives right on that mountain."

So it was that Joe Peluso was able to visit Padre Pio regularly throughout the next ten months that he remained stationed near the Capuchin Friary of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovani Rotundo. Sometimes he would eat with the Capuchins, and he once made a trip to Rome to replenish Padre Pio's stock of religious medals that he gave to those who came to see him.

When Peluso asked Padre Pio to be a spiritual father to himself and his entire family, Padre Pio agreed and then said, "Joe, when the war is over and you return to the United States, tell the American people that, for those who would like me to be their spiritual father, my answer is yes. I accept all Americans as my spiritual children. I only have two requirements - that they lead very good Catholic lives and that they regularly receive the sacraments."

Joe Peluso went on to share this story throughout the remainder of his life, and it has been recounted and disseminated many times, leading Americans from all walks of life to turn to Padre Pio for his intercession. Regarding his ministry to American soldiers, it is said that he was very generous and fatherly in how he offered advice, sometimes even patting a soldier on the head like a child and saying, "Be a good boy," to send him on his way.

Padre Pi'o's background of growing up in humble circumstances in the Campania region of southern Italy prepared him for meeting all people in the simplest of ways and turning the most basic interactions into profound experiences. Associated with miraculous events and intercessions during his lifetime, he bore the wounds of Christ on his hands and feet for 50 years. A few days before his death in 1968 at the age of 81, those wounds completely disappeared.

Through stories told by so many people who had the privilege to know Padre Pio in his lifetime, so many more have come to implore his intercession and to call him their spiritual father, continually fulfilling that wish he expressed to intercede for the souls of the people of our nation.

We celebrate the Feast of Saint Padre Pio on September 23rd, so may he intercede for our nation in a special way on this day so that more people will come to share in the beautiful devotion to his memory and his wish to guide us to the healing power of Christ.   

This essay is a recent "Light One Candle" column, written by Fr. Edward Dougherty, M.M, of The Christophers' Board of Directors; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.)

Background information:

The Christophers

Reflection Starter

"Every day is a gift from God wrapped in new paper." - from the Great American Family movie A Cinderella Christmas Ball

"Be Exalted, O God"

As we continue to live this week, I offer this version of "Be Exalted, O God":

 

Belated Birthday Blessings, Tamara!!!

Belated birthday greetings to granddaughter Tamara, whose birthday was yesterday!!! May each day of the upcoming year be filled with the Lord's choicest blessings!!!

Thank You, Lord

Thank you, Lord, for the many good people You place in our lives and for the many ways in which You work through them.

Why Darryl Strawberry Got Knocked Off His Throne

At the height of Darryl Strawberry's baseball career, his mother Ruby prayed that God would knock him "off his throne." The reason? Despite establishing himself as a premier home run hitter who won World Series with both the Mets and Yankees, Darryl struggled with addiction, womanizing, and other issues that were creating chaos in his life. Ruby simply wanted her son to be "humbled" and "saved." Though it took many years, Ruby's prayer was answered when Darryl made the decision to surrender his life to Christ and devote himself to preaching God's word. He shares his healing journey in the new memoir Another Life.

Darryl grew up in a challenging environment. Though Ruby was loving and supportive of her five children, her husband Henry was emotionally and physically abusive to all of them to the point that Darryl and his brother were once ready to kill Henry so he would no longer beat their mother. Henry moved out after that incident, and Ruby's resilience became a model for her children.

Darryl's natural baseball talent eventually led him to success with the Mets, with whom he won a drama-filled World Series in 1986. He also found himself living a "worldly lifestyle," which Ruby warned him against. Like many young people, Darryl didn't listen, thinking he could handle it. "There's a price to be paid," he admitted during a Christopher Closeup interview. "But [my mother] kept interceding and praying behind the scenes. . . . I always tell mothers, 'Don't ever stop praying because it's not up to you to do the miracle; it's up to God to do the miracle, and God hears the prayers of the righteous.'"

After Ruby died of cancer at age 55, Darryl and his siblings found their mom's journal, which included her prayer for God to knock Darryl off his throne. In retrospect, he wishes he would have listened to her sooner: "I always tell people: don't wait that long because you're going to cost yourself a lot of headaches if you just wait around and have God stop you. Because He will stop you after you've been prayed over and interceded for."

Darryl credits his wife Tracy with being God's instrument of grace on his road to recovery. Having struggled through addiction herself, she had been off drugs and alcohol for one year when they met at a function for people in recovery. Whereas most attendees hovered over Darryl to get pictures with him because he was famous, Tracy recognized that he was a man who was hurting and struggling. And she was right, since Darryl described himself as still "active in addiction" at that point. "God had sent her to rescue me," Darryl said. "He sent her to come pull me out of places [where I was] using drugs."

Darryl and Tracy broke up while he went to "get clean," then came together again to "get married and live according to [God's] principles.” In addition, she taught him he had to "clean up the mess" that he created. Darryl explained, "She led me back into church. I had to sit for seven years to go through discipleship and be able to learn God's will, God's word, His principles, and walk in faith... . . . Without her and without my mother's prayers, I probably would be dead.. . . . And I think a lot of people need to understand, God always has people out there that's trying to lead you and guide you towards Him. You just have to be able to say, 'yes,' and receive it."

This essay is a recent "Light One Candle" column by Tony Rossi, Director of Communications, The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.

Background information:

The Christophers

Refalection Starter from Fr. William Howard Bishop

"An act of kindness or courtesy is, in the ordinary affairs of life, worth all the inconvenience and delay that it may cause." - Father William Howard Bishop (founder of Glenmary)