Rachel’s Corner-Bear with me
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, Say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2
o Wake up your inner sailor by starting the day with a nod to World Maritime Day. Dress in your most nautical attire or simply channel the sea with some ocean-inspired decor. Incorporate seafood into your meals for an added maritime touch.
o Embrace your inner green thumb in honor of National Johnny Appleseed Day. Plant a tree, tend to your garden, or simply enjoy a crisp, fresh apple. Let nature inspire you to appreciate the beauty of growth and sustainability.
o Celebrate diversity on European Day of Languages by learning a new phrase or two in a different language. Try cooking a traditional European dish or watching a foreign film with subtitles. Expand your horizons by immersing yourself in a new culture.
o Release your inner lumberjack spirit on Lumberjack Day by embarking on an outdoor adventure. Go for a hike, have a picnic, or try your hand at woodwork. Channel the rugged charm of the great outdoors.
o End the day by indulging in some comfort food on National Chimichanga Day and National Dumpling Day. Treat yourself to a delicious plate of chimichangas or dumplings, either homemade or from a local restaurant. Relish in the joy of good food and good company.
o Bear Necessities Month
Best Place to visit in September: Zion National Park, Utah[3]
Located in southern Utah, Zion National Park offers some of the most breathtaking scenery in the country. Renowned for its stunning natural beauty, I personally think the park is especially picturesque during the fall!
This is when the temperatures are still warm, there are fewer crowds, and you can start to see colorful leaves frame Zion’s red sandstone cliffs towards the end of the month.
I loved hiking there and highly recommend exploring Angels Landing, Observation Point, and Emerald Pools. The park also offers fantastic outdoor activities, such as biking, climbing, and birdwatching.
Visitors Center Address: Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Map Location
Average temperature – 61 to 90
My highlights…
· Hiking the scenic Zion Canyon Overlook Trail and seeing the incredible Zion Canyon and the East Temple (a huge sandstone formation).
· Discovering Canyon Overlook and admiring the incredible views overlooking the red sandstone park.
· Experiencing a journey on the Highway Scenic Drive – the early fall scenery was stunning!
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.
- Wine/Beer
- Beef Barley Soup with Roasted Vegetables
- Pork Roast
- Bread
- Bohemian Kolaches
SEPTEMBER 26 Thursday
1 Samuel, Chapter 21, Verse 13
David
took note of these remarks and became very much AFRAID of Achish, king of Gath.
One
wonders why David was so afraid. According to David Roper this was David’s
testing.
Just
about the time I think I've got it all together, some unsightly emotional
display, some inappropriate reaction, some other embarrassing behavior blows my
cover, and I have that horrible experience of being found out. It's
humiliating! But humiliation is good for the soul. Through it God deals with
our self-admiration and pride. Without it we could never make the most of our
lives. The trouble with us is that we want to be tremendously important. It's a
terrible trait, the essential vice, the utmost evil. It's the sin that turned
the devil into the demon he became. Obscurity
and humility, on the other hand, release God's greatness. It is the basis
of our life with God and our usefulness in this world. Thomas à Kempis wrote,
"The more humble a man is in himself, and the more subject unto God; so
much more prudent shall he be in all his affairs, and enjoy greater peace and
quietness of heart." Because ambition and pride is the center of our
resistance to God and the source of so much unhappiness, "God opposes the
proud" (James 4:6); he brings us to our knees, where He can then begin to
do something with us.
David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this [mad] man come into my house?" David [then] left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 21:10-22:1). David fled south from Nob — with Saul in hot pursuit — and he made his way across the Judean hills and through the Valley of Elah where a few years before he had engaged Goliath in combat.
It was to Gath — the home of his enemies — that David now turned for
shelter from Saul. I don't know what possessed David to flee to Gath. Perhaps
he thought he wouldn't be recognized, since this was several years after his
encounter with Goliath, and he had grown to manhood. Perhaps he disguised
himself in some way. But David was instantly recognized, and his presence was
reported to king Achish of Gath: "Isn't this David, the king of the land?
Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: 'Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands'?" The phrase "they sing" could
be translated, "they still sing," suggesting a popular tune. David's
fame was celebrated everywhere — even in Philistia. You have to understand the
implications of this song. David had slain his ten thousands of Philistines;
his fame had been established at the expense of bereaved Philistine women and
children. Here was an opportunity to take vengeance. Furthermore, he was
considered "the king of the land [of Israel]." By some means David became
aware that he had been found out, and that he was facing imprisonment and
death, so David lost his nerve (see Psalm 34 and 56). Motivated by sheer
terror, David pretended to go mad, foaming at the mouth and scrawling crazy
slogans on the walls. According to the title of Psalm 56 the Philistines
"seized him" and brought him to Achish, who dismissed him with the
contemptuous remark: "Behold, you see a madman! Why have you brought him
to me? Am I lacking madmen that you have brought this to ply his madness
against me? Must this come into my house?" The word translated "mad
man" (21:15), used three times by Achish, suggests something other than
insanity. The word in other Near Eastern languages means "highly
aggressive" — violent and dangerous — which gives added force to the
king's remark: ". . . you have brought this to ply his madness [ravings]
against me?" Achish was afraid of David. The title to Psalm 34 supplies
the conclusion of the matter: Achish "drove him away," out of his
court and out of town — David, run out of town on a rail, utterly humiliated.
David, the tough guy, the hero of Israel, the man they celebrated in song and
dance had wimped out in the face of physical danger and made an utter fool of
himself. With no place else to go, unwelcome in both Israel and Philistia,
David fled into a labyrinth of broken ridges and rimrock about three miles from
Gath and crept into a cave. The cavern in which he found refuge was called the
Cave of Adullum (Adullam means refuge). It can't be located with certainty, but
the traditional site is a dark vault located on a shelf at the top of a
near-perpendicular cliff. In that dark place — humiliated, crushed, alone — he
wrote Psalm 34 and Psalm
56. He was at his
nadir. In that dark place David cried out to God: "This poor [humiliated]
man called, and the LORD heard him." There he learned that "The LORD
is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit"
(34:6, 18). Lord Byron wrote from Reading Jail, "How else but through a
broken heart can Lord Christ enter in?" Furthermore, David learned to
boast in the Lord rather than in his own ability (34:2). Through shame and
disgrace he became a more modest man — one whom God could shape and use.[1]
What is the significance of Gath in
the Bible?
Johnny
Appleseed Day[2]
There’s a story from the early days of America, discussing
this near-mythical figure that traveled the wilds of America spreading apple
seeds everywhere he went. He was known and lauded for his kind, generous ways,
and the importance he placed on the apples. To this day he is depicted in
stories and song as the man who made apples an American institution and is one
of the most beloved characters in its mythology and history. What many people
don’t know is that Johnny Appleseed was no mere legend, but was, in fact, a
missionary known by the name of John Chapman. Born in Leominster, Massachusetts
in 1774. While the most common display of the man who would be known as Johnny
Appleseed is of him randomly spreading apple seeds everywhere, the truth of his
methods was a bit more pragmatic. He travelled throughout Pennsylvania,
Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and the lands that would become West
Virginia planting nurseries. He would fence them in and leave them in the care
of a neighbor who would then sell shares in the trees, and then come back every
year or two to tend them. His very first nursery was built on the bank of Broken
Straw Creek, south of Warren Pennsylvania, but dozens more were to follow. His
work wasn’t focused just on apples, however. He had a deep and abiding love for
animals of all kinds, including insects. He may have been one of the first
ethical vegetarians and spent much of his life taking pains not to harm
animals. One popular story about him recounts his attitudes towards animals:
“One cool autumnal night, while
lying by his campfire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes flew in the
blaze and were burned. Johnny, who wore on his head a tin utensil which
answered both as a cap and a mush pot, filled it with water and quenched the
fire, and afterwards remarked, “God forbid that I should build a fire for my
comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures.””
How to celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day
Celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day is best done by indulging
yourself in the delicious fruit that he helped to spread across the US.
Whatever form you choose to have it in, whether a fresh apple off a tree or a
rich and flavorful apple pie, be sure to take some time to appreciate the
results of his efforts. You may also take a day off of eating meat and be extra
kind to animals on this day, in remembrance of his efforts and his beliefs.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION
OF FAITH
SECTION
TWO-I. THE CREEDS
CHAPTER THREE-I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
ARTICLE
8-"I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT"
Article 9-"I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH"
Day 105
748 "Christ is the light
of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the heart-felt desire of this sacred
Council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his
Gospel to every creature, it may bring to all men that light of Christ which
shines out visibly from the Church." These words open the Second
Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. By choosing this
starting point, the Council demonstrates that the article of faith about the
Church depends entirely on the articles concerning Christ Jesus. the Church has
no other light than Christ's; according to a favorite image of the Church
Fathers, the Church is like the moon, all its light reflected from the sun.
749 The article concerning the
Church also depends entirely on the article about the Holy Spirit, which
immediately precedes it. "Indeed, having shown that the Spirit is the
source and giver of all holiness, we now confess that it is he who has endowed
the Church with holiness." The Church is, in a phrase used by the
Fathers, the place "where the Spirit flourishes."
750 To believe that the Church
is "holy" and "catholic," and that she is "one"
and "apostolic" (as the Nicene Creed adds), is inseparable from
belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the Apostles' Creed
we profess "one Holy Church" (Credo . . . Ecclesiam), and not to
believe in the Church, so as not to confuse God with his works and to attribute
clearly to God's goodness all the gifts he has bestowed on his Church.
I. NAMES AND IMAGES OF
THE CHURCH
751 The word "Church"
(Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to "call out of") means a
convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually
for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old
Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their
assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by
God as his holy people. By calling itself "Church," the first
community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In
the Church, God is "calling together" his people from all the ends of
the earth. the equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word
Church and the German Kirche are derived, means "what belongs to the
Lord."
752 In Christian usage, the
word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the
local community or the whole universal community of believers. These
three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God
gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as
a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the
word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Growth
of Catholic Families and Households
·
Today is my grandson “Mackie’s”
birthday, please pray for his intentions.
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: September
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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