COLUMBUS DAY (Observed)
1
Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 5-6
5 For this is also how the holy
women who hoped in God once used to adorn themselves and were subordinate to
their husbands; 6 thus Sarah
obeyed Abraham, calling him “lord.” You are her children when you do what is
good and FEAR no intimidation.
As Christians we are not
wimps. We may at times to the untrained mind appear to because we do good for
others and mirror the love of Christ; but we are not unadventurous. Christians
cannot be bullied to act outside of their conscience. Peter here is reminding
the first century Christians of this; especially women who for all intents are
purposes were considered along the same lines as property.
Women Peter advices are to be
subordinate to their husbands so as to win them over if they are not Christians
by their love and their reverent and chaste behavior. Being sexy is the world’s
view of beauty used in most of the popular songs of today but Peter advices us
to rather show the hidden character of the heart in a gentle and calm
disposition (NO DRAMA QUEENS). Husbands and wives are to show honor to each
other because you are joint heirs of the gift of life. Marriage is not an
arrangement for mutual benefits.
Marriage is a noble commandment from God to love another, even if it hurts. Each chooses to love and honor the other even when it’s rejected; but do not be intimidated Peter advises; give love and do not give up. In a marriage there should be an air of freedom; for real love is a choice of the will rather than just a feeling and to choose one must be free. Never stop praying for each other remembering that consideration is a prerequisite of effective prayer.
Columbus
Day[1]
Columbus Day is the
celebration of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October
12, 1492. Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who discovered the
Americas for the Spanish King Ferdinand of Spain. Columbus set off into the
Atlantic with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Two months
later he would set foot on the Bahamas and establish settlements on Hispanola
Island (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Upon his return to Spain, he
spoke of gold in the New World and thus the Americas were opened up for
European colonization. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared
October 12th every year as Columbus Day. In the US, Columbus Day is celebrated
by all US states except for Hawaii, South Dakota and Alaska. Columbus Day
now occurs on the second Monday in October each year.
Columbus Day Facts & Quotes
·
Colorado was the first state to officially
recognize and celebrate Columbus Day in 1906.
·
Christopher Columbus' first settlement on
Hispaniola Island was called Villa de Navidad (Christmas Town)
·
In 1971, the official holiday was moved to the
second Monday in October in order to give workers in the US a long weekend.
This was part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.
·
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever
achieve greatly. - Robert F. Kennedy
·
You can never cross the ocean unless you have the
courage to lose sight of the shore. - Christopher Columbus
Columbus Day Top Events and Things to
Do
·
Attend a Columbus Day Parade. The parade
in New York City is one of the largest.
·
Eat some good Italian food.
·
Watch a parade.
·
Visit the Library of Congress's online exhibit 1492:
An Ongoing Voyage.
·
Host a scavenger hunt for the neighborhood kids
and let them become Explorers for the afternoon.
Thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney,
assistant pastor of St. Mary’s Church in New Haven and some of his
parishioners, the Connecticut state legislature on March 29, 1882, officially
chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society. The Order is
still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity. The
Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families.
Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their
families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and
their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war
relief and public relief works. The history of the Order shows how the
foresight of Father Michael J. McGivney, whose cause for sainthood is being
investigated by the Vatican, brought about what has become the world's foremost
Catholic fraternal benefit society. The Order has helped families obtain
economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and
long-term care programs, and has contributed time and energy worldwide to
service in communities. The Knights of Columbus has grown from several members
in one council to 15,342 councils and 1.9 million members throughout the
United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic,
Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam,
Saipan, Lithuania, Ukraine, and South Korea
Famous Last Words[3]
·
Friedrich
Nietzsche, pernicious philosopher who preached "God is dead" Nietzsche died in spiritual
darkness, a babbling madman. On a wall in Austria a graffiti said, "God
is dead, --Nietzsche!" Someone else wrote under it, "Nietzsche
is dead! --God."
·
Oscar
Wilde, sipping
champagne on his deathbed:
"And now, I am dying beyond my means."
·
H.
G. Wells: "Go
away...I'm all right."
·
Ludwig
von Beethoven: "Friends
applaud, the comedy is over."
·
Dominique
Bouhours, French grammarian: "I
am about to, or I am going to, die; either expression is used."
·
Thomas
Jefferson: "This
is the fourth…"
·
John
Adams: "Thomas
Jefferson? --Still surv.... "
·
Jean
Paul Sartre, existentialist "I
failed!"
·
Emily
Dickinson: "The
fog is rising…"
·
The
prophet Mohammed: "O
Allah! Pardon my sins. Yes, I come."
·
Nurse
Cavell Before
facing a German firing squad in 1915, "Patriotism is not enough. I must
have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
·
Henry
Ward Beecher: "Now
comes the mystery."
·
Karl
Marx, born in a Christian Jewish family, originator of Communism. On his deathbed surrounded
by candles burning to Lucifer, screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had
any last words: "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who
haven't said enough."
·
Lawrence
Oates: British
explorer, who sacrificed himself in 1912 in an attempt to save his starving
companions during Scott's expedition to the Pole: "I am just going outside,
and I may be some time"
·
Crowfoot
(American Blackfoot Indian Orator): "What
is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a
buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset."
·
Cesare
Borgia, statesman: "I
have taken care of everything in the course of my life, only not for death, and
now I have to die completely unprepared."
·
Cardinal
Mazarin: "Oh
my poor soul, what is to become of you? —
Where do you go?"
·
Thomas
Hobbes, English Philosopher: "It's
my turn, to take a leap into the darkness!
·
David
Hume, the Atheist, He
cried: "I am in flames!" His desperation was a horrible scene.
·
Voltaire, the famous skeptic, Voltaire died a terrible death. His
nurse said: "For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever
die! All night long he cried for forgiveness."
·
Napoleon
Bonaparte, About
Napoleon, Count Montholon wrote: "The Emperor died forsaken by all, on
this horrible rock. (St. Helena) His death struggle was awful!"
·
Thomas
Edison, American inventor "It
is very beautiful over there."
·
Goethe,
German Poet
"Light, More light!"
·
William
of Orange, first King of the Netherlands, as he was shot by an assassin, "My God, my God, have mercy
on me, and on my poor people!"
·
John
Newton b. 1725. d.
1807. Originally a slaver, he had a dramatic mid-ocean change of heart that led
him to turn his slave ship around and take the people back to their homeland.
He became a Presbyterian minister and preached against the slave-trade,
inspiring William Wilberforce who brought about the abolition of slavery in
Britain and its colonies. He is most famous for having authored the words to
the hymn "Amazing Grace". As he neared his end, exclaimed, "I am
still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living
soon."
·
Heinrich
Heine, Heine, the
great Skeptic, later changed his attitude. In the postscript to his poem
collection "Romancero" (30.9.1851) he wrote: "When you are on
your deathbed, you become more sensitive and you would like to make peace with
God and the world…
Poems, that only contained halfway reproaches against God, I delivered over to
the flames in a fearful zeal. It is better, that the verses burn than the verse
maker… I
returned to God as a prodigal son, after I fed the swine with the Hegelians for
a long time… In the
theology I have to accuse myself of retreating, because I returned to a
'personal God'." As he died: "God will forgive me. It's his
job."
·
Sir
Thomas Scott,
Scott, once president of the English Lower House said: "Up until this
time, I thought that there was no God neither Hell. Now I know and feel
that there are both, and I am delivered to perdition by the righteous
judgment of the Almighty."
·
Stalin
who was
responsible for the murder of at least 80 million Russian and
Ukrainians, if not many millions more—most of them Christians! The greatest
hushed up holocaust and genocide in human history, never
mentioned by the media, as it is not "politically correct!" About
Stalin's death struggle, his daughter Swetlana Allilujewa, who in March 1953
was called to the dying dictator in his dacha in Kunzewo, stated: "Father
died terribly and difficult. God gives the righteous an easy death."
·
A
Chinese Communist,
who delivered many Christians to their execution, came to a pastor and said:
"I’ve seen
many of you die. The Christians die differently. What is their secret?"
·
Stephen
the first Christian Martyr,
as he was being stoned to death by the Farisees, assisted by Saul, who later
met Jesus in a vision and changed into the Apostel Paul: "Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit!"
·
Jesus
Christ: Jesus,
after a long morning of torture and a 3-hour lasting excruciating crucifixion,
He first forgave his Roman enemies from the cross, saying: "Father forgive
them, for they don’t
know what they do!" Then he granted eternal life to a repentant thief that
was crucified beside him, saying, "Today you shall be with me in
Paradise" After the Father's Spirit left Him as He died for the sins of
the world, he said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" Then
He said, "It is finished!" and after He had cried out with a loud
voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"—He gave up the ghost!
Coming of the Lord
and the Last Judgment[4]
As Catholics, we are
mindful and profess in our Creed that Christ will come again to judge the
living and the dead. The Second Vatican Council's "Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church" states, "Already the final age of the world is with us
and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now
anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already
with a sanctity that is real though imperfect" (No. 48). To try to grasp
the when, what and how of this Second Coming and last judgment, we really need
to glean the various passages in Sacred Scripture to see how our Church has interpreted
them. They are united in one drama. Our Lord in the Gospel spoke of His second
coming. He indicated that various signs would mark the event.
1. Mankind would suffer from famine,
pestilence and natural disasters.
2. False prophets who claim to be the Messiah
will deceive and mislead people.
3. Nations will wage war against each
other.
4. The Church will endure persecution.
5. Worse yet, the faith of many will
grow cold and they will abandon the faith, even betraying and hating one
another.
6. St. Paul describes a "mass
apostasy" before the Second Coming, which will be led by the "son of
perdition," the "Man of Lawlessness," the "adversary who
exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship." This
"lawless one" is part of the work of Satan, and with power, signs,
wonders and seductions will bring to ruin those who have turned from the truth.
7. However, "the Lord Jesus will
destroy him with the breath of His mouth and annihilate him by manifesting His
own presence." The Catechism affirms, "God's triumph over the revolt
of evil will take the form of the last judgment after the final cosmic upheaval
of this passing world" (No. 667).
8. Our Lord will come suddenly.
"The Son of Man in His day will be like the lightening that flashes from
one end of the sky to the other" St. Peter predicts, "The day of the
Lord will come like a thief and on that day the heavens will vanish with a
roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and all its deeds
will be made manifest" (2 Pt 3:10).
9. Death will be no more. The dead shall
rise and those souls who have died will be united again to their bodies. All
will have a glorious, transformed, spiritualized body as St. Paul said,
"He will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it
according to the pattern of His glorified body...".
10. At this time, the final, or general
judgment will occur. Jesus said, "Those who have done right shall rise to
life; the evildoers shall rise to be damned". Our Lord described this
judgment as follows: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, escorted by
all the angels of heaven, He will sit upon His royal throne and all the nations
will be assembled before Him. Then He will separate them into two groups, as a
shepherd separated sheep from goats" Here each person will have to account
for his conduct and the deepest secrets of his soul will come to light. How
well each person has responded to the prompting of God's grace will be made
clear. Our attitude and actions toward our neighbor will reflect how well we
have loved our Lord. "As often as you did it for one of My least brothers,
you did it for Me". Our Lord will judge us accordingly. For those who have
died and already have faced the particular judgment, their judgment will stand.
Those living at the time of the Second Coming will receive judgment.
a. Those who have rejected the Lord in
this life, who have sinned mortally, who have no remorse for sin and do not
seek forgiveness, will have condemned themselves to hell for all eternity.
b. "By rejecting grace in this
life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works and can
even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love
(Catechism, No. 678).
c. The souls of the righteous will
enter heavenly glory and enjoy the beatific vision and those who need purification
will undergo it.
We do not know when the
Second Coming will occur. Jesus said, "As to the exact day or hour, no one
knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but only the Father.
Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time
will come"
Daily Devotions
·
Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance
of the Angels
·
Monday:
Litany of Humility
·
Rosary
[3]http://users.belgacom.net/gc674645/grave/lastword.htm
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