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Showing posts from December, 2017

The Adventures of Orange Beard & The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord make me an instrument of your peace Where there is hatred let me sow love Where there is injury, pardon Where there is doubt, faith Where there is despair, hope Where there is darkness, light And where there is sadness, joy O divine master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand To be loved as to love For it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life Amen. My grandfather was a fantastic storyteller. As children, when we stayed overnight at his house he would tell us the most amazing bedtime stories. His most famous and memorable fable was that of the legendary swashbuckler “Orange Beard.” The fictitious pirate’s klutzy adventures were kept afloat by our giggles. My Pop’s boundless imagination provided just enough wind for his sails each night. The entertaining tales also taught us about what it meant to live with honor and virt

Gifts that Keep Giving

‘What day is it?’ ‘It's today,’ squeaked Piglet. ‘My favorite day,’ said Pooh. ~A.A Milne A few years ago during the Christmas Season my family sat down to watch old videos of previous Christmas day celebrations. One of the more memorable moments was watching the video where my brother and I opened the original Sony PlayStation console. There was a lot of screaming, celebrating, dancing and merrymaking as we received the hottest gift on the planet from Santa. Today, that PlayStation is long forgotten, its games are outdated and neither my little brother nor myself can remember whether we sold, misplaced or buried the console in a box marked “basement”; but watching that moment on film was a lot of fun for my family as we laughed at our original excitement and childhood exuberance. Our joy was a greater gift than the PlayStation.  As I reflect upon the readings for today , I can’t help but notice how the scriptures are reminding us to recognize how spiritually rich we are in the