Vinny’s Corner-Party with Eagles
· 26th Annual Eagle Festival at Mason Neck State Park
· Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
· Catholic Recipe: Slow Cooker Kalua Pig
· Bucket Item trip: Hawaii-Molokai
· In honor of St. Damian “Work out like a Polynesian warrior![3]
o Bored of the gym? Practice the skills needed to survive on one of the world’s remotest islands. For over a thousand years, the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island have lived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Their survival has depended on strength, resourcefulness and sometimes war. Today, the island's annual two-week Tapati Festival celebrates their culture, and exhibits their athletic prowess. So put that gym visit on hold for a moment and imagine what some warpaint, a volcano and a 20kg banana weight belt could do for your fitness goals! Here’s the set…More: Here's how to win the world's harshest race...
§ 1. Run-Begin with a pulse raiser. The Rapa Nui run barefoot with 20kg of bananas hanging over their shoulders, dressed in only a hami (loincloth). The route is a kilometre loop around an emerald lake inside the Rano Raraku volcano.
· Replicate: No treadmill we know has this adventure setting... Grab a sandbag (or a rucksack full of flour) and get outdoors for a run. Build up the distance and speed slowly.
§ 2. Throw-The Rapa Nui whittle their spears from long straight branches, then attach sharpened flints. Points are accumulated by hitting banana tree targets. The thinner the tree, the more points for your tribe.
· Replicate: Stop yanking on those gym cables to improve your shoulder and back strength. Instead check out what field throwing sports your local athletics club can offer. Banana trees not included.
§ 3. Carve. Easter Island is famous for the mysterious moai stone statues. Today the Rapa Nui hold forearm-bursting, speed-carving competitions – albeit on a slightly smaller scale to their ancestors.
· Replicate: Think 1,000 bicep curls is the only way to build forearm strength? Think again. Sculpt your cufflink crackers with some wood carving of your own.
§ 4. Fish The Rapa Nui are incredible underwater hunters. They can hold their breath for up to four minutes whilst stalking their prey.
· Replicate: Take the plunge and see how far you can go on a single breath with a freediving course.
§ 5. Ride-Galloping along the edge of sea cliffs is not wild enough for the Rapa Nui. The jockeys ride bareback at the Vaihu horse race – gripping just the horse’s manes and squeezing wildly with their calves and thighs.
· Replicate: Don’t have a horse of your own? Get the same workout from riding a mountain bike at any of these great spots.
§ 6. Paddle The banana carrying footrace inside the volcano also requires a crossing of the lake. The Rapa Nui competitors cross the water on boats made of reeds that are collected and woven from the very same lake.
· Replicate: Turn your workout into an adventure with an introduction to sea kayaking.
§ 7. Dance Easter Island’s dances are a collection of the best cultural influences from their not-so-near neighbors. It’s an exhausting blend of the haka from New Zealand, the hula from Hawaii and the Latin passion of South America.
· Replicate: Tired of zumba-ing soullessly into your gym studio’s mirror? Put some life back into your dance workout by making it fun and social with friends.
· Dancer Fred Astaire born 1899
§ 8. Slide Take two banana trunks to the top of a volcano, lash them together, coat yourself in body paint and toboggan down at speeds up to 80kph.
· Replicate: Ahem… OK, you’ve got us here. The best option is to check it out for yourself!
MAY 10 Saturday
of the Third Week of Easter
ST.
DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI
Acts,
Chapter 9, Verse 31
The
church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the FEAR of the Lord, and with the
consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.
The church was at peace because the apostles trusted in the power of God and accepted Saul as Paul. Saul was the major threat to the fledgling church until Christ stopped Saul in his tracks.
For those who do not fear God let us pray that Christ stops us knocks us to the ground and delivers us as He did Saul.
Christ chose Saul because he was an earnest man first.
The great
need at this hour is manly men. We want not goody-goody piety; we have too much
of it. We want men who will do right, though the heavens fall, who believe in
God, and who will confess Him. Rev. W. J. Dawson.
Great men of the bible realize that we are both body and spirit. They took great care of the body and honored God with the use of it. Our examples are Moses, Sampson, David, Saint Joseph and even Jesus Himself.
The body of an athlete and the soul of a sage; these are what we
require to be happy. Voltaire.
How is a
catholic to conduct themselves?
According to Copilot: A Catholic is called
to live a life of virtue, guided by the teachings of the Church and the example
of Christ. This includes:
·
Faith and Worship: Attending Mass on Sundays
and holy days of obligation, receiving the sacraments regularly, and
maintaining a strong prayer life.
·
Moral Conduct: Following the Ten
Commandments, practicing honesty, integrity, and charity in daily life, and
avoiding sinful behaviors.
·
Social Responsibility:
Treating others with dignity and respect, engaging in acts of service and
charity, and advocating for justice and peace.
·
Obedience to Church Teachings:
Upholding the doctrines of the Church, respecting Church authority, and seeking
ongoing spiritual growth.
·
Personal Integrity: Living
a life of humility, chastity, and self-discipline, and striving to be a witness
to Christ in all aspects of life.
St. Damien of Molokai[1]
Joseph De Veuster, the future Father Damien, was born at Tremelo in Belgium, January 3rd, 1840. His was a large family and his father was a farmer-merchant. When his oldest brother entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts (called 'Picpus' after the street in Paris where its Generalate was located), his father planned that Joseph should take charge of the family business. Joseph, however, decided to become a religious. At the beginning of 1859 he entered the novitiate at Louvain, in the same house as his brother. There he took the name of Damien. In 1863, his brother who was to leave for the mission in the Hawaiian Islands, became ill. Since preparations for the voyage had already been made, Damien obtained permission from the Superior General to take his brother's place. He arrived in Honolulu on March 19th, 1864, where he was ordained to the priesthood the following May 21st. He immediately devoted himself, body and soul, to the difficult service of a "country missionary" on the island of Hawaii, the largest in the Hawaiian group. At that time, the Hawaiian Government decided on a very harsh measure aimed at stopping the spread of "leprosy," the deportation to the neighboring island of Molokai, of all those infected by what was thought to be an incurable disease. The entire mission was concerned about the abandoned "lepers" and the Bishop, Louis Maigret ss.cc., spoke to the priests about the problem. He did not want to send anyone "in the name of obedience," because he knew that such an order meant certain death. Four Brothers volunteered, they would take turns visiting and assisting the "lepers" in their distress. Damien was the first to leave on May 10th, 1873. At his own request and that of the lepers, he remained definitively on Molokai. He brought hope to this hell of despair. He became a source of consolation and encouragement for the lepers, their pastor, the doctor of their souls and of their bodies, without any distinction of race or religion. He gave a voice to the voiceless, he built a community where the joy of being together and openness to the love of God gave people new reasons for living.
After Father Damien contracted the disease in 1885, he was able to identify completely with them: "We lepers." Father Damien was, above all, a witness of the love of God for His people. He got his strength from the Eucharist: "lt is at the foot of the altar that we find the strength we need in our isolation..." It is there that he found for himself and for others the support and the encouragement, the consolation and the hope, he could, with a deep faith, communicate to the lepers. All that made him "the happiest missionary in the world," a servant of God, and a servant of humanity. Having contracted "leprosy" himself, Fr. Damien died on April 15th, 1889, having served sixteen years among the lepers. His mortal remains were transferred in 1936 to Belgium where he was interred in the crypt of the church of the Congregation of Sacred Hearts at Louvain. His fame spread to the entire world. In 1938 the process for his beatification was introduced at Malines (Belgium): Pope Paul VI signed the Decree on the "heroicity of his virtues" on July 7th, 1977. He was canonized on October 11th, 2009.
In Father Damien, the Church proposes an example to all those who find sense for their life in the Gospel and who wish to bring the Good News to the poor of our time.
Things to Do:
Be adventurous and prepare a Hawaiian
luau in honor of St. Damien.
Humble
Confession[2]
A story about Father
Damien the leper shows us how no one or anything should stop us from making a
humble confession. One of Father Damien's greatest sufferings after he left for
Molokai was his inability to go to confession. Two months after his arrival on
the island, the Honolulu Board of Health ruled that no one on Molokai would be
allowed to return, even temporarily. This was a cruel blow to a man of such
delicate conscience as Father Damien, accustomed to receiving the grace of the
sacrament of Penance weekly. Since he was forbidden to leave, it seemed someone
must come to him. In September, a steamer stopped outside the shore settlement
of Kalaupapa with the usual load of provisions, patients banished from the
mainland, and this time with Father Damien's provincial, Father Modeste, who
knew the young priest was longing to see him. As he prepared to land, Father
Modeste was confronted by the captain. "I have formal orders to stop
you," he announced. There was nothing left but for Damien to come out to
the ship. He did, in a small boat rowed by two of his leper friends and
prepared to board. "Stay back! Stay back!" shouted the captain.
"I've been strictly forbidden to let you see anyone!" Father Damien
stood in the little boat, so near and yet so far. Quickly he made up his mind.
"Very well, I will go to confession here." And with his provincial
leaning over the railing on the deck, the priest confessed his sins and
received absolution. It is said no one on board knew French. Nevertheless, one
cannot help feeling that in this case the walls, the very skies, had ears. It
was truly heroic: a man making the choice between human respect and sacramental
grace. There is no comparison. Penance is the torrent that will cleanse us. Let neither pride nor human respect prevent
our making a humble confession.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day 327 2544-2557
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER
TWO-YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
Article 10-THE
TENTH COMMANDMENT
III. Poverty of Heart
2544 Jesus
enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them
"renounce all that [they have]" for his sake and that of the
Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor
widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live
on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into
the Kingdom of heaven.
2545 All
Christ's faithful are to "direct their affections rightly, lest they be
hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and
by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical
poverty."
2546
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." The Beatitudes reveal an order
of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the
poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs:
The Word
speaks of voluntary humility as "poverty in spirit"; the Apostle
gives an example of God's poverty when he says: "For your sakes he became
poor."
2547 The Lord
grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the abundance of
goods. "Let the proud seek and love earthly kingdoms, but blessed are
the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." Abandonment
to the providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety about
tomorrow. Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor.
They shall see God.
IV. "I Want to
See God"
2548 Desire
for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of
this world so that he can find his fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of
God. "The promise [of seeing God] surpasses all beatitude.... In
Scripture, to see is to possess.... Whoever sees God has obtained all the goods
of which he can conceive."
2549 It
remains for the holy people to struggle, with grace from on high, to obtain the
good things God promises. In order to possess and contemplate God, Christ's
faithful mortify their cravings and, with the grace of God, prevail over the
seductions of pleasure and power.
2550 On this
way of perfection, the Spirit and the Bride call whoever hears them to
perfect communion with God:
There will
true glory be, where no one will be praised by mistake or flattery; true honor
will not be refused to the worthy, nor granted to the unworthy; likewise, no
one unworthy will pretend to be worthy, where only those who are worthy will be
admitted. There true peace will reign, where no one will experience opposition
either from self or others. God himself will be virtue's reward; he gives
virtue and has promised to give himself as the best and greatest reward that
could exist.... "I shall be their God and they will be my people...."
This is also the meaning of the Apostle's words: "So that God may be all
in all." God himself will be the goal of our desires; we shall contemplate
him without end, love him without surfeit, praise him without weariness. This
gift, this state, this act, like eternal life itself, will assuredly be common
to all.
IN BRIEF
2551 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also" (Mt 6:21).
2552 The tenth commandment forbids avarice arising from a
passion for riches and their attendant power.
2553 Envy is sadness at the sight of another's goods and
the immoderate desire to have them for oneself. It is a capital sin.
2554 The baptized person combats envy through good-will,
humility, and abandonment to the providence of God.
2555 Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24); they are led by the Spirit and
follow his desires.
2556 Detachment from riches is necessary for entering the
Kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
2557
"I want to see God" expresses the true desire of man. Thirst for God
is quenched by the water of eternal life (cf In 4:14).
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Prayer After Mass
Lord
Jesus Christ, take all my freedom,
my memory, my understanding, and my will.
All that I have and cherish
you have given me.
I surrender it all to be guided by Your will.
Your grace and Your love
are enough for me.
Give me these, Lord Jesus,
and I ask for nothing more. Amen.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Restoring
the Constitution
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
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