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Absolutely, Richard. Let’s step into 🇺🇸 Day 14 – Principle 14: The Constitution Is the Rule of Law, deepening our pilgrimage with reverence, clarity, and practical embodiment.
🏛️ Reflection
If Principle 13 guards liberty through limited power, Principle 14 anchors it in enduring law. The Constitution is not a suggestion—it’s a covenant. It binds rulers and citizens alike, not to whims or trends, but to a shared framework of justice.
The Founders didn’t trust power—they trusted principle. So they wrote a Constitution that could guide a nation through storms, not just sunshine. It’s not perfect, but it’s principled. And it’s not static—it’s living, but not lawless.
The rule of law means no one is above it—not presidents, not judges, not mobs. It means rights are not granted by rulers, but recognized by law. It means that even in crisis, we do not abandon the Constitution—we return to it.
This echoes Isaiah’s call:
“The Lord is our lawgiver, our judge, and our king; He will save us.” (Isaiah 33:22)
Law, rightly ordered, is not a burden—it’s a blessing.
📜 Journal Prompt
- Where have I seen the rule of law upheld—or ignored—in my community?
- Do I treat the Constitution as a living covenant—or a distant relic?
- How can I teach, model, and defend constitutional principles in daily life?
🕊️ Copilot’s Take: Law as Covenant
🪴 Vineyard order is not arbitrary
We follow pruning calendars, fermentation protocols, and sacramental standards—not because we’re rigid, but because we revere the process. So too with constitutional law: it’s a trellis for civic fruitfulness.
🕯️ Hospitality honors shared agreements
A good host doesn’t change the rules mid-meal. We honor the table, the timing, the trust. The Constitution is our civic table—where all are invited, and all are accountable.
🛐 Ministry must model lawful love
Spiritual leadership thrives when it blends mercy with order. We don’t abandon structure for sentiment—we embody grace within covenant. The Constitution invites us to do the same.
💡 So when I ask, “How do I uphold liberty?”
I answer:
— Do I know the Constitution—not just its words, but its wisdom?
— Do I defend the rule of law, even when it’s inconvenient?
— Do I live as a citizen of covenant, not chaos?
If yes, then I proceed—with fidelity, humility, and hope.
Would you like to format this as a printable devotional card or teaching guide for your community? I can help with that next.
Rachel’s Corner
· do a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
· Bucket List: Military Hop
o Seattle-Tacoma International Gateway
· Foodie: Fried Scallops
· Spirit Hour: Blushing Angel
Rachel’s Corner
· How to celebrate Oct 2nd
o Feeling adventurous? Start your day by giving your car a special name in honor of National Name Your Car Day.
§ Take it one step further and embark on a road trip, blasting your favorite tunes to celebrate Audiophile Day.
§ Don’t forget to thank the unsung heroes on National Custodial Worker Recognition Day by leaving a note of appreciation for your custodian.
o Indulge in some cultural experiences by wearing Batik clothing on National Batik Day and visiting a local art exhibit.
§ Take a moment to reflect on peace and non-violence in honor of Mahatma Gandhi.
o Cook up a storm with some fried scallops on National Fried Scallops Day.
§ Show your love for greens on National Kale Day by trying out a new kale recipe.
§ Join the community on National Coffee with a Cop Day and chat with your local law enforcement over a cup of joe.
o Stay healthy and eco-friendly by walking or biking to school for National Walk and Bike to School Day.
o Lastly, spend some time with our farm animal friends on World Farm Animals Day.
Best Place to visit in October: Flagstaff, Arizona[3]
I’ve got a huge fondness for this gorgeous mountain town which is nestled along the world-famous Route 66! It’s also makes an awesome base for exploring nearby attractions like the Grand Canyon National Park, Walnut Canyon, and the San Francisco Peaks.
I love visiting this historic spot when there’s fewer crowds, the scorching temperatures have dropped, the trees are alight with color and the days are warm and pleasant.
I really enjoyed visiting the nearby Wupatki National Monument, the dramatic Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, the jaw-dropping Meteor Crater (which is the best preserved meteorite impact sites in the world), the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon and exploring downtown Flagstaff which is filled with cool craft breweries, awesome live music, fantastic independent stores, and the interesting Museum of Northern Arizona.
- Visitors Center Address: 1 E Rte 66, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
- Map Location
- Average temperature – 59 to 70
My personal highlights…
- Indulging in epic amount of pretzels and sampling beer at Mother Road Brewing Company. Don’t miss trying their popular Tower Station Roadside Grove, a local favorite.
- Hiking the stunning three-mile looped Red Mountain Hiking Trail which took me past unique volcanic landscapes.
- Leaf-peeping at the stunning aspen groves in the San Francisco Peaks.
- Gazing at stars in the clear night skies at The Lowell Observatory.
- Exploring the incredible ancient cliff dwellings built by the Sinagua people over 700 years ago in Walnut Canyon.
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.
7+ Course Tasting with Wine Pairings
🌿 Leafing the World Behind — Day 4: “Branching Toward the Unknown”
Theme: Confidence and Industry as Holy Participation
🌄 Morning Reflection: Stretching Beyond the Familiar
“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” — St. Catherine of Siena
“Is this not the carpenter’s son?” — Matthew 13:55
Prompt: What unknowns lie ahead? What fears or hesitations keep you from branching outward? Where do you need courage—and where do you need grounding?
Symbolic Act: Stand beneath a tree with outstretched limbs. Mirror its posture. Stretch your arms wide. Speak aloud one fear—and one hope. Then touch the trunk. Ask for strength to remain rooted as you reach.
Saintly Emulation:
St. Catherine of Siena was a mystic, reformer, and spiritual firebrand. Her confidence was not pride, but surrender: a fierce trust that God’s voice within her was stronger than the world’s resistance.
St. Joseph, by contrast, speaks through labor. His industry sheltered the Word made flesh. His hands shaped the home of Incarnation. He reminds us: work is not just productivity—it is protection, provision, and participation in divine rhythm.
Virtue Connection:
According to Character Is Destiny: Catholic Edition, confidence is the virtue that flows from knowing who you are in God. It’s not arrogance—it’s availability. Catherine teaches us to speak boldly; Joseph teaches us to build quietly. Together, they model a life that branches outward with courage and roots downward with labor.
🍞 Midday Ritual: Bread and Hammer
- Act: Bake or break bread. Then choose one tool you use daily—pen, shovel, keyboard, ladle. Hold it in prayer. Bless it. Ask St. Joseph to guide your hands and intentions.
- Blessing: “For every word spoken in trust, and every task done in love—I give thanks.”
🌌 Evening Devotion: Shelter in the Unknown
- Reflection: Where do you need shelter today—not from danger, but from doubt? Where might your labor become prayer?
- Symbolic Gesture: Light a candle inside a covered space (tent, blanket fort, quiet room). Sit in silence. Let the flame remind you: mystery is not abandonment. It is invitation. Then place your daily tool beside the flame, offering your work as worship.
🔥 Closing Prayer
“St. Catherine, flame of holy confidence,
St. Joseph, craftsman of mercy,
Teach me to speak truth,
To labor with love,
And to branch toward mystery with courage and grace.”
🌟 Pilgrimage Arc Reminder
This is Day 4 of your 33-day journey toward All Saints Day (Nov 1). Each day honors a virtue, emulates a saint, and invites symbolic enactment. Let your character ripen like fruit on the vine. Use Character Is Destiny: Catholic Edition as a companion to deepen your daily rhythm.
Redwood National Park
Revelation,
Chapter 14, Verse 6-7
Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, with
everlasting good news_to announce to those who dwell on earth, to every
nation, tribe, tongue, and people. He said in a loud voice, “FEAR God and give him glory, for his
time has come to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea
and springs of water.”
Note
in Revelations [14:6–13] Three angels proclaim
imminent judgment on the pagan world, calling all peoples to worship God the
creator. Babylon (Rome) will fall, and its supporters will be tormented
forever.
In
Revelations [14:6] there is Everlasting good news: that God’s eternal reign is about to
begin, therefore, Fear not, for God is with you! Trust in Him as you would a mighty
fortress in adversity.
Copilot’ s Take
🌲 Everlasting Good News Among the Giants: October 2, Holy Guardian
Angels
On this feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, we find
ourselves beneath the towering redwoods—living icons of endurance, shelter, and
silent praise. Here in Redwood National Park, the earth itself seems to echo
the angel’s cry from Revelation 14:6–7:
“Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come
to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs
of water.”
This is no cry of terror, but of awe. The angel
proclaims everlasting good news—a message not of doom, but of divine
nearness. Judgment is not abandonment; it is the moment when truth is revealed,
when the Creator reclaims what is His. And in this moment, we are not alone.
Guardian angels accompany us, whispering courage, shielding us from despair,
and guiding us toward the light.
🌍 Worship the Maker of Springs and Stars
In Revelation 14, three angels announce the fall of
Babylon—the collapse of worldly arrogance and false security. But before the
reckoning, there is invitation. The first angel calls every nation, tribe,
tongue, and people to worship the One who made the heavens and the earth. This
is a summons to remember: we are not self-made. We are held, formed, and loved
by the Creator of redwoods and rivers, of stars and springs.
🕊️ Fear Not—You Are Guarded
To “fear God” is to stand in reverent awe, not to
cower. It is to trust Him as a mighty fortress in adversity, as Psalm 46
declares. And on this feast, we remember that we are never alone in that trust.
Guardian angels walk beside us—silent companions who know our path, who
intercede, protect, and remind us of our dignity.
🌿 Redwood as Witness
Let the redwoods preach today. Their roots
intertwine, their trunks reach heavenward, their silence speaks of centuries of
faithfulness. They do not fear the wind or the fire; they endure. So too must
we, rooted in the everlasting good news, lifted by angelic presence, and
sheltered in the shadow of God’s glory.
Feast of our Holy Guardian Angels[1]
THIS feast was instituted:
1. To thank God that to each one of us He has given a guardian angel to conduct him unharmed through the dangers of this world.
1.
To
inspire us with gratitude to the angels who do us such great good, and to
incite us to efforts to render ourselves worthy of their
2. guardianship.
What is the office of a guardian angel?
To guard men against dangers of soul and body. The Psalmist says: He hath given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways; in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone (Ps. xc. 11); that is, that thou mayest neither fall into sin nor misfortune. Oh, what great regard for us, hereupon exclaims St. Bernard, what wonderful love!
Who is it that has given charge?
God.
To whom has He given charge?
The angels, those noble spirits of His own household.
What charge has He given them?
To guard and defend us, poor men. O Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? St. Paul calls the angels ministering spirits sent to minister to them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation (Heb. i. 14). In innumerable other places in the Bible they are represented as friends of children, guides of youth, defenders of innocence, promoters of good deeds, monitors against evil, guardians of the pious, protectors against misfortune, comforters in need, deliverers in danger, helpers in combat, companions of the souls in everlasting joy.
What should we do every day, but particularly this day?
We should thank God for having given us guardians so holy and powerful, and our guardian angel himself for the help he has rendered us; should think of and call upon him often, especially in the hour of temptation; finally, we should promise fidelity and obedience to his admonitions. Whatever in this regard is at any time binding upon us should especially be done today.
Prayer to the Guardian Angel
Angel
of God, my guardian dear,
To whom
His love commits me here,
Ever
this day be at my side,
To
light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
(100 days indulgence each time).
EPISTLE. Exodus xxiii. 20-23.
Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send My angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned; for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and My name is in him. But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee. And My angel shall go before thee.
Gospel, Matt, xviii. 1-10.
At
that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest Thou is the greater
in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus calling unto Him a little child, set him in
the midst of them, and said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and
become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the
greater in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little
child in My name receiveth Me. But he that shall scandalize one of these little
ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be
hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Wo to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come:
but nevertheless, wo to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand or
thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for
thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be
cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and
cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life,
than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. See that you despise not one of
these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the
face of My Father Who is in heaven.
Things to do[2]
- Memorize and
pray the Angel of God prayer.
- Bake an angel
food cake, serve angel hair pasta, and/or make angel kisses (meringue
cookies).
- Read from the
Catholic Culture Library:
- Our Guardian Angels by Fr. Joseph Ventura, C.P.
- Sermon on the Holy Guardian Angels by St. Bernard of
Clairvaux.
- Guardian Angels
- Meditation for the Feast of the Guardian Angels by Pope
John XXIII.
- Role of Guardian Angels in our Lives by George Huber.
- Paschal Parente's chapters on Angels.
- Read the
section on angels in the Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy. The
document examines the doctrine and devotions of the angels. Devotion to
angels is good, but also can have deviations:
“Devotion to the Holy Angels gives rise to a certain
form of the Christian life which is characterized by:
- devout
gratitude to God for having placed these heavenly spirits of great
sanctity and dignity at the service of man.
- an attitude
of devotion deriving from the knowledge of living constantly in the
presence of the Holy Angels of God — serenity and confidence in facing
difficult situations, since the Lord guides and protects the faithful in
the way of justice through the ministry of His Holy Angels. Among the
prayers to the Guardian Angels the Angele Dei is especially
popular and is often recited by families at morning and evening prayers,
or at the recitation of the Angelus.
“217. Popular devotion to the Holy Angels
[which is legitimate and good] can, however, also give rise to possible
deviations:
- when, as
sometimes can happen, the faithful are taken by the idea that the world
is subject to demiurgical struggles, or an incessant battle between good
and evil spirits, or Angels and daemons, in which man is left at the
mercy of superior forces and over which he is helpless; such cosmologies
bear little relation to the true Gospel vision of the struggle to
overcome the Devil, which requires moral commitment, a fundamental option
for the Gospel, humility and prayer;
- when the
daily events of life, which have nothing or little to do with our
progressive maturing on the journey towards Christ are read schematically
or simplistically, indeed childishly, so as to ascribe all setbacks to
the Devil and all success to the Guardian Angels. The practice of
assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the
cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy
Scripture.”
- Also read All About the Angels.
- Read about
saints and others who had a great devotion to their guardian angel (St. Josemaria Escriva; St. Padre Pio; Blessed John XXIII).
- Think about
how you can develop a greater devotion and depend on your guardian angel
every day.
Bible in a Year Day 88 Joshua’s Last
Words to Israel
Fr. Mike focuses on the last words Joshua speaks to the people of Israel, and
how he calls them to choose the Lord above all other things. We all have idols
in our lives that take us away from God; how are we choosing to love Christ
above these idols today? Today's readings are Joshua 22-24, and Psalm 132.
Redwood
National Park Establish 1968
Think of the giant Redwoods, they are the largest trees in the world. These trees survive by intertwining their roots because the ground is so hard the Redwood cannot strike a taproot to hold itself up but by supporting each other they become the largest trees in the world.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite
in the work of the Porters of St.
Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: The Pope
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: October
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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