Travelers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best Things to Do
Writer E.B. White Born, 1899
Saints, Feast, Family
- Traditions passed down with Cooking, Crafting, & Caring -
Thursday Feast
Thursday
is the day of the week that our Lord gave himself up for consumption. Thursday
commemorates the last supper. Some theologians believe after Sunday Thursday is
the holiest day of the week. We should then try to make this day special by
making a visit to the blessed sacrament chapel, Mass or even stopping by the
grave of a loved one. Why not plan to count the blessing of the week and thank
our Lord. Plan a special meal. Be at Peace.
·
According to Mary Agreda[1]
in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the
approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother
of God and she gave her fiat.
Wolfgang Puck Thursday Feast
- Cocktails
- Corn and Bacon Soup with Jalapeño Crema
- Hot
Dog Melts
- Pork
Schnitzel with Warm Potato Salad
- Espresso-Chocolate
Semifreddo
Places to Visit in July[2]
Monterey,
California
I
was super keen to see Monterey and the historic Cannery Row Historic District,
and when I visited, I knew it had to be included on this list!
Summer
doesn’t get too hot here, but the weather is pleasant, and I loved its unique
boutique hotels, cute independent shops, and relaxed seafood restaurants where
I could gaze at the waves and ocean views while dining.
I
recommend walking through Monterey State Historic Park to see some of the
area’s oldest and most significant buildings, including the cathedral of San
Carlos Borromeo (the oldest in California).
Plenty
of outdoor pursuits are available, with excellent surfing and wildlife spotting
along the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreational Trail and The Monterey Bay Marine
Sanctuary.
Visitor’s Center Address: 419 Webster St
Suite 100, Monterey, CA 93940
Average temperature – 68 degrees
My
favorite highlights…
Wandering around the setting for John
Steinbeck’s novel, Cannery Row Downtown, which was filled with cool shops and
restaurants.
Taking in the coastline views at Point Sur
Lightstation, a historic landmark overlooking the ocean.
Check out the Monterey Museum of Art, which
is home to over 14,000 pieces.
Rachel’s
Corner
My people will live in a peaceful country, in secure
dwellings and quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18
· Let
Freedom Ring Day 5 "Freedom from Cowardice" by Fr. Rick Heilman
·
Tired of thinking of the
New World Order: Just make yourself a Mojito!
·
Take a spiritual retreat
It Can Be Hard to Find an Accommodating Space
Intentionally immerse yourself in a serene space
Let’s face it, it can be hard to find an ideal
retreat location to retreat. Even vacations can become more work than they are
worth. The space we surround ourselves in has a huge impact on our ability to
find rest and renewal and to create and inspire.
Villa Maria
del Mar is a house of hospitality for individuals and groups seeking
a beautiful and serene space for prayer, planning, and healing.
Villa Maria Del Mar Features
Overnight Group Retreats
Individual Retreat and Renewal
Meeting Spaces for Day Groups
On-Site Livestreaming
Complete Food Service
Dietary Accommodations
Thursday Memorial of Saint Benedict, abbot
POPULATION DAY
Proverbs, Chapter 2, Verse 1-12
1
My son, if you receive my words and treasure my
commands 2
Turning your ear to wisdom, inclining your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you call for
intelligence, and to understanding raise your voice; 4 If you seek her like
silver, and like hidden treasures search her out, 5 Then will you
understand the FEAR of the LORD; the
knowledge of God you will find; 6
For the LORD gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 He has success in
store for the upright, is the shield of those who walk honestly, 8 Guarding the paths
of justice, protecting the way of his faithful ones, 9 Then you will
understand what is right and just, what is fair, every good path; 10 For
wisdom will enter your heart, knowledge will be at home in your soul, 11 Discretion will
watch over you, understanding will guard you; 12 Saving you from the
way of the wicked, from those whose speech is perverse.
Wherever your treasure is that is where your heart is and our hearts are made for the Lord. Fear of the Lord means that we have a father/son relationship of care, respect and love. Our God does not want to be objectified as some obtainable good. Nor does our God want to be appeased with our prayers and obedience. God is not a insurance agent that guarantees us against losses if we pay our premiums in prayers. If God is our treasure, he is our star, our life, our everything.
I
am reminded of the love of Don Quixote in the play “Man from La Mancha”.
If God is our treasure, he should be our Impossible Dream because we are
His.
Feast of Saint Benedict[1]
Saint Benedict was born in Nursia in central Italy around the year 480. He was born to a noble family, and after being homeschooled, he was sent to Rome to complete his education. The teenaged Benedict was already turning toward the Lord, and when he went to Rome, he was disappointed and dismayed by the lazy, extravagant ways of the other young students. Benedict was born into a time of immense social upheaval. The once grand Roman Empire was on its last legs. The ancient city of Rome was crumbling due to decadence from within and attacks from without. Seventy years before Benedict’s birth the city fell to the invasions of the barbarians. The civil authority was in tatters, the city had been stripped of its grandeur, and the Church herself was beset with corruption and theological arguments. Benedict left the chaos of the city and sought a quiet place to study in the mountains north of Rome. Near the town of Subiaco, he found a community of holy men, and settled near them to pursue a life of prayer. Eventually Benedict was asked to be the leader of the community. When that went wrong, he left to start his own monastic community. One community soon grew to twelve, and to establish these new communities on a sound foundation Benedict, wrote his simple Rule. We mustn’t think of Benedict’s communities as the great monasteries that existed in the Middle Ages. In the sixth century, Benedict’s small communities consisted of perhaps twenty people. They scratched their living from the land just like the other peasants with whom they lived. The only difference is that Benedict’s monks observed celibacy, lived together and followed a disciplined life of prayer, work and study. This simple, serious life was to prove a powerful antidote to the decadent chaos of the crumbling Roman Empire. Saint Benedict died on March 21, 547. After receiving Communion, he died with his arms outstretched, surrounded by his brothers. He left behind a legacy that would change the world. The monasteries became centers of learning, agriculture, art, and every useful craft. In this way, without directly intending it, the monasteries deeply affected the social, economic, and political life of the emergent Christian Europe. The monastic schools formed the pattern for the later urban cathedral schools, which in turn led to the founding of universities. In this way, monasticism preserved and handed on the wisdom of both Athens and Jerusalem, the foundations of Western civilization. It is for this reason that Saint Benedict is named the patron of Europe. Benedict is a great figure in the history of Western Europe, but his life and writings also give us a sure guide for a practical spiritual life today. His practical Rule for monks in the sixth century provides principles for Christian living that are as relevant and applicable today as they have been for the last 1,500 years.
Things to do:
o
Practice the Liturgy of the Hours
Ora and Labora (Work
and Prayer)[2]
THE BENEDICTINE MONASTIC OFFICE
The Benedictine Office is
a rich collection of prayer that is based on the Rule of St. Benedict.
Historically it is distinct from the Roman Office – also recently called the Liturgy
of the Hours –
which, after the Second Vatican Council, was reshaped to simplify and make more
practical the prayer of the hours for the secular clergy, as well as the
religious who use it, and the laity who make it a part of their life of prayer.
In 1966 the Breviarium
Monasticum was the universal order of Divine Office for Benedictines. In that
year the monks were given a period of time for liturgical experimentation,
allowing each congregation of monasteries to adapt the tradition for its particular
use, under certain guidelines. To this day the Breviarium Monasticum remains “official” and the time of experimentation is
still in effect. In that circumstance, communities are using various forms of
the Divine Office, and a few communities have even elected to take the new
Roman Office (Liturgy of the Hours) as a convenient guideline because of its
universal use among the secular clergy.
The following is a brief,
general description of the centuries old Benedictine tradition of prayer in
word and action. Reference is made occasionally to the Roman Office as another
point of reference. The structure of the Office described below and outlined is
according to the use at St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama.
|
Traditional
Monastic Hours |
New Roman
Office (Liturgy of the Hours) |
|
Matins (Vigils) |
Matins (Office of Readings) – any time of day |
|
Lauds |
Lauds (Morning Prayer) |
|
Prime |
Prime omitted in New Roman Office |
|
Terce |
Terce (Mid-Morning Prayer) |
|
Sext |
Sext (Mid-Day Prayer) |
|
None |
None (Mid-Afternoon Prayer) |
|
Vespers |
Vespers (Evening Prayer) |
|
Compline |
Compline (Night Prayer) |
World Population Day[3]
World
Population Day seeks to draw attention to issues related to a growing global
population. The world's population as of April 2016, is over 7.4 billion.
The world's population is rapidly surging with birth rates on the rise
and life expectancy increases. Over the last century, between 1916 and
2012, global life expectancy more than doubled from 34 to 70 years while world
population has quintupled from 1.5 billion to 7.3 billion between 1900 and
2016.
In 1989, the United Nations designated July 11th as World
Population Day in an effort to garner attention for population issues and
crises such as displaced people, rights and needs of women and girls and population safety on a global
level. With an ever-growing world population, World Population Day serves to
highlight the challenges and opportunities of this growth and its impact on
planet sustainability, heavy urbanization, availability of health care and youth empowerment.
Agenda 2030's Goal #12 Will Exterminate Six Billion People[4]
Move over, Mao, Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, there is a new extermination king in town. It is called Agenda 2030. Agenda 2030 conference in Paris is being guided by 17 goals which contain targets that will alter humanity and change the planet forever. Of particular concern is goal #12, as it is the conduit from which the globalist depopulation agenda will be ushered in.
- Agenda 2030 Goal #12: Ensure sustainable
consumption and production patterns Following the
planned economic collapse, Agenda 2030 will enforce the most brutal
austerity programs ever conceived of, or ever enforced. Just as it
was in the Hunger Games
movie, all food, water and medicine will be rationed. Inhabitants
will be forced to take the Mark of the Beast, the dreaded but largely
unknown RFID chip. We are already witnessing the birth of a cashless
society. Soon, cash will be banned. Automation will bring promises of
unlimited food production. The public will be sold on the widespread use
of robots to achieve this goal. It will be a ruse. The goal is to replace
human workers with robots. The globalists will hoard the food in
order to help wipe out the ‘useless eaters’ through starvation. Then the
population will be forced into a devastating World War III.
Subsequently, Ted Turner and the other globalists will be able to
achieve their goals of reducing the world's population to a low
of 500,000,000.
Catholic
Population Principles[5]
In order to provide a moral perspective, we affirm the following principles derived from the social teaching of the Church.
1. Within the limits of
their own competence, government officials have rights and duties with regard
to the population problems of their own nations—for instance, in the matter of
social legislation as it affects families, of migration to cities, of information
relative to the conditions and needs of the nation. The government’s
positive role is to help bring about those conditions in which married couples,
without undue material, physical or psychological pressure, may exercise
responsible freedom in determining family size.
2. Decisions about
family size and the frequency of births belong to the parents and cannot be
left to public authorities. Such decisions depend on a rightly formed
conscience which respects the divine law and takes into consideration the
circumstances of the places and the time. In forming their consciences, parents
should take into account their responsibilities toward God, themselves, the
children they have already brought into the world and the community to which
they belong, "following the dictates of their conscience instructed about
the divine law authentically interpreted and strengthened by confidence in
God."
3. Public
authorities can provide information and recommend policies regarding population,
provided these are in conformity with moral law and respect the rightful
freedom of married couples.
4. Men and women
should be informed of scientific advances of methods of family planning
whose safety has been well proven and which are in accord with the moral law.
5. Abortion, directly willed and procured,
even if for therapeutic reasons, is to be absolutely excluded as a licit means
of regulating births.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
PART
ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO-I. THE CREEDS
Day 27
193 None of the creeds from the
different stages in the Church's life can be considered superseded or
irrelevant. They help us today to attain and deepen the faith of all times by
means of the different summaries made of it.
Among all the creeds, two occupy a special place in the Church's life:
194 The Apostles' Creed is so
called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the
apostles' faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its
great authority arises from this fact: it is "the Creed of the Roman
Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the
common faith".
195 The
Niceno-Constantinopolitan or Nicene Creed draws its great authority from the
fact that it stems from the first two ecumenical Councils (in 325 and 381). It
remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day.
196 Our presentation of the
faith will follow the Apostles' Creed, which constitutes, as it were, "the
oldest Roman catechism". The presentation will be completed however by
constant references to the Nicene Creed, which is often more explicit and more
detailed.
197 As on the day of our
Baptism, when our whole life was entrusted to the "standard of
teaching", let us embrace the Creed of our life-giving faith. To say
the Credo with faith is to enter into communion with God, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, and also with the whole Church which transmits the faith to us and in
whose midst we believe:
This Creed is the
spiritual seal, our heart's meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is,
unquestionably, the treasure of our soul.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: End
Sex Trafficking, Slavery
·
Novena
to Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Day 5
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Practice fidelity to baptismal
vows
·
Rosary
[2] https://stbernardabbey.com/the-divine-office/
[4]https://thecommonsenseshow.com/conspiracy/agenda-2030s-goal-12-will-exterminate-six-billion-people
[5]http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/contraception/statement-on-population.cfm
[6] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
[1] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The
Mystical City of God: Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with
Illustrations (p. 770). Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
[2]https://globalgrasshopper.com/destinations/north-america/20-of-the-best-places-to-visit-in-july-in-the-usa/
As the nation’s largest southern border crossings finally receive mainstream media coverage years into an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis, untold numbers of “fighting age males” dressed in military uniforms are entering the United States through remote areas with no Border Patrol presence.
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