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Rachel’s Corner-Weird Al’s birthday 1959
· do a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
· Bucket List: Military Hop
§ Navy Region Southwest - NAS North Island Flights - Space 'A' Terminal
🌅 North Island – Coronado, California
· Navy Lodge North Island (Coronado) – Full-service beachfront lodging with family suites, junior suites, and business-class rooms. Includes complimentary breakfast, playground, pool, and rooftop lounge.
🔗 navy-lodge.com/North-Island
· Navy Gateway Inns & Suites – NAS North Island – Official duty and leisure lodging with business center, laundry, and easy access to Coronado Beach and downtown.
🔗 ngis.dodlodging.net/propertys/North-Island-NAS
· North Island Beach Cottages – Twenty elegant two-bedroom cottages right on Breakers Beach. Includes full kitchens, private patios, BBQs, and stunning Pacific views.
🔗 militarycampgrounds.us/california/578-north-island-beach-cottages
· Foodie:
o Rise and shine, how about starting your day with a delicious Boston Cream Pie breakfast? Whip up a simple recipe at home or grab a slice from a local bakery to kick off your day with a sweet treat.
§ As you savor your dessert, take a moment to appreciate the hard work of paralegals by sending a thank-you message to those you know.
· 🌊 Seven-Course Meal: “Coronado’s Coastal Benediction”
· 1. Amuse-Bouche: “Pearl of the Bay”
A single Pacific oyster on the half shell, topped with Meyer lemon granita and a drop of hibiscus vinegar.
Symbolic act: A whispered blessing for clarity and courage, like the first step onto a ship.
· 2. Starter: “Mission Garden Gazpacho”
Chilled heirloom tomato and roasted red pepper gazpacho, garnished with avocado crema and micro basil.
Symbol: A nod to the mission gardens and the Marian mantle of protection.
· 3. Seafood Course: “Tide and Flame”
Grilled local spiny lobster tail with ancho-chili butter, served over sweet corn purée and charred scallion oil.
Symbolic act: A pause to honor the fire and water that shape every pilgrimage.
· 4. Pasta Course: “Sunset Saffron Fideo”
Toasted vermicelli in a saffron seafood broth with clams, mussels, and a touch of smoked paprika.
Symbol: The golden hour—when day yields to reflection.
· 5. Main Course: “Civic Grove Lamb”
Herb-crusted rack of lamb with rosemary jus, served with olive oil–poached fingerlings and grilled fig.
Symbolic act: A toast to civic renewal and the fruitfulness of shared labor.
· 6. Cheese Course: “Monastery Board”
A trio of California cheeses (Humboldt Fog, aged cheddar, and Spanish-style Manchego) with quince paste, Marcona almonds, and wildflower honey.
Symbol: The quiet strength of monastic rhythm and local stewardship.
· 7. Dessert: “Crown of Light”
Meyer lemon olive oil cake with lavender glaze and candied citrus peel, served with a glass of late harvest Muscat.
Symbolic act: A final candle lit for mercy, clarity, and the journey ahead.
· Spirit Hour: Wheel of Fortune cocktail
· How to celebrate Oct 23rd
o Feeling inspired by the dedication of event organizers? Plan a small gathering with friends or family to celebrate their behind-the-scenes efforts. Organize a potluck lunch where each guest brings a dish inspired by a different TV talk show host. Get creative with themed decorations and enjoy the camaraderie as you chat about your favorite shows.
o In the afternoon, embrace your inner adventurer by embarking on a virtual safari to learn about snow leopards. Watch documentaries or participate in online quizzes to test your knowledge about these majestic creatures. Support wildlife conservation efforts by donating to organizations that protect endangered species like the snow leopard.
o Wrap up your day with a fun DIY project inspired by crocs. Whether you’re customizing a pair of shoes or creating crocodile-themed crafts, let your imagination run wild. Share your creations on social media with the hashtag #CrocDay to join others in celebrating these reptilian wonders.
o End your evening on a musical note by curating a playlist of songs that remind you of your favorite iPod memories. Blast the tunes, dance like nobody’s watching, and revel in the nostalgia of classic tracks.
Best Place to visit in October: Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
This place is seriously jaw-dropping! Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is home to unique and spectacular landscapes, and I personally prefer to explore this surreal beauty spot during the autumn months, when temperatures are comfortable and there’s far fewer crowds.
On my trip I explored the Scenic Valley Drive, the iconic The Mittens and Merrick Butte (the famous symbols of the valley) and the more hidden gems of Hunts Mesa and Mystery Valley (which I did via a Navajo guide).
- Visitors Center Address: U.S. 163 Scenic, Oljato-Monument Valley, AZ 84536
- Map Location
- Average temperatures – 60 to 70
My highlights…
- Hiking the popular Wildcat Trail which took me on a two-hour journey around West Mitten Butte.
- Catching a breathtaking Instagram-worthy sunset from John Ford’s Point – the views were incredible!
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.
- Fish House Punch
- Linguine with Clam Sauce
- Sweet and Sour Green Beans
- Quinoa Chard Pilaf
- Olde Tavern Spoon Bread
Here is Day 23: St. Sebastian — Excellence Through Courage and Endurance, choreographed to deepen the rhythm of Leafing the World Behind, where the creative mind becomes a vessel of resilience, beauty, and sacrificial strength.
🌊 Leafing the World Behind: Day 24
Witness: St. Sebastian
Theme: Excellence Through Courage and Endurance
Virtue: Fortitude
Virtue Connection: Beauty That Perseveres
Symbolic Act: Complete a task today with full attention and quiet strength. Let your effort be a prayer.
Location: A vineyard row, a training ground, a quiet threshold—any place where endurance becomes excellence.
🕊️ Introduction: On Fortitude
Fortitude is not brute force—it is beautiful endurance.
It is not loud—it is luminous.
To leaf the world behind is to choose excellence not for applause, but for love.
Today, we do not quit—we consecrate.
Fortitude, in this rhythm, is not stubbornness—it is sacrament.
It is the courage to say: “I will endure, and I will do so beautifully.”
🌺 Witness of the Day: St. Sebastian
Sebastian was a Roman soldier and Christian martyr.
He served with excellence, led with integrity, and endured with grace.
When discovered as a Christian, he was tied to a tree and shot with arrows—left for dead.
He survived, returned, and continued to proclaim the Gospel.
Eventually, he was martyred fully—but never bitterly.
Sebastian reminds us:
Excellence is not perfection—it is perseverance.
Courage is not absence of fear—it is presence of love.
Endurance is not resignation—it is resurrection.
🛡️ Virtue Connection: Beauty That Perseveres
Fortitude becomes virtue when it is beautiful.
When it does not just survive—but sanctifies.
When it turns suffering into strength, and strength into service.
Sebastian did not endure for pride.
He endured for love.
He reminds us:
Endurance without beauty becomes bitterness.
But endurance with beauty becomes excellence.
🕯️ Symbolic Act: Endure Beautifully
Choose one task today that requires effort.
Do it with full attention.
Let your endurance be a liturgy.
As you act, say:
“Lord, let my courage be quiet.
Let my endurance be beautiful.
Let my excellence be love.”
If no task arises, reflect on one you’ve completed with grace.
Let your reflection be a thanksgiving.
🔥 Reflection Prompt
Where have you endured without beauty?
What task still asks for your full attention?
Can you name one person whose quiet courage shaped your life?
Write, walk, or pray with these questions.
Let St. Sebastian remind you:
Fortitude is not weakness—it is witness.
It is the strength to endure, the grace to persevere, the love to do so beautifully.
OCTOBER 23 Thursday
St. John Of Capistrano
Romans,
Chapter 15, Verse 13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and PEACE in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The
God of Hope?
It has been
said that the only things worse than insanity are despair and hopelessness. But
praise the Lord, we serve a God of hope! The Greek word for "hope" is
elpo meaning "to look forward to with pleasurable confidence and
expectation." The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, "Now the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may aboard in hope,
through the power of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 15:13). Paul introduces an
incredible idea "that you may abound in hope" He means, "that
you may have enough to spare; a supply that is overflowing, excessive, beyond
measure!" Some may think, "That sounds like a cruel joke. In my
present condition all I want is a ray of hope, just a single evidence of
answered prayer. Just one little sign of change!" But beloved, God's Word
is true! He is a God of hope -- a hope that is excessive, overflowing and
beyond measure. Paul's prayer for the people of God was that He would
"fill you with all joy and peace in believing." This is to be a
normal state for all Christians: not just for well-adjusted, happy-go-lucky
believers -- but for all! God is not mocking His hurting children today. He is
now a God of hope, ready to flood your soul with exceeding, overflowing joy and
peace by the power of the Holy Ghost in you. Paul said,
"For we are saved by hope: but
hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we
hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (Romans
8:24-25) Yet we respond by demanding to see a change in our situation:
"But I could have hope if I could just see a little movement, a small
piece of evidence that God is working for my good, just something to get hold
of. I need to see something change.
How can I have hope when months go
by and things only get worse?"
But
"to abound in hope" is to have excessive, overflowing patience --
more than enough patience to "wait for it." You see, the joy and
peace come when you know God has everything under control![1]
“Son of the Republic: A Prayer for Mercy and Union”
My prayer is that the Lord our God will rescue the Christians and Jews in the Middle East so they might worship him in holiness and righteousness. Indeed, this prayer is needed in our own country where our government, colleges and the media have shown they hate us as we are a “basket of deplorables”.
In America, we have until now had no fear of worshiping him in holiness and righteousness. In fact, the model in America since its founding has been one of “Many religions, but one covenant”. We are certainly a blessed people because we have not abandoned the covenant, nor shall we if the vision of George Washington at Valley Forge is true. In it he saw that American would remain true to our creator.
"Son of the Republic…Three great perils will come upon the Republic. The most fearful is the third, but in this greatest conflict the whole world united shall not prevail against her. Let every child of the Republic learn to live for his God, his land and the Union."
With these words the vision vanished, and I started from my seat and
felt that I had seen a vision wherein had been shown to me the birth, progress,
and destiny of the United States.[2]
Copilot’s Take
On
October 23, the Church honors St. John of Capistrano—a preacher, reformer, and
defender of the faith whose life embodied courage and clarity in turbulent
times. The reading from Romans 15:13 reminds us that we serve not a distant
deity, but the God of hope, who fills us with joy and peace in believing so
that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for
hope, elpo, means to look forward with pleasurable confidence and
expectation. This is not a fragile wish—it is a covenantal certainty. Paul’s
prayer is not for a flicker of hope, but for an overflowing supply, excessive
and beyond measure. In seasons of suffering, when change feels distant and
prayers seem unanswered, this promise may feel like a cruel joke. Yet Scripture
insists: God is not mocking His hurting children. He is present, ready to flood
the soul with joy and peace—not once circumstances shift, but while we wait. To
abound in hope is to abound in patience, trusting that God has everything under
control.
This
truth echoes in the civic prayer titled Son of the Republic: A Prayer for
Mercy and Union. It begins with intercession for Christians and Jews in the
Middle East, that they may worship in holiness and righteousness. It then turns
inward, naming the cultural hostility many feel in America—where government,
media, and academia often treat faithful citizens as a “basket of deplorables.”
Yet the prayer does not dwell in grievance. It recalls the founding vision of
America: many religions, one covenant. It invokes the prophetic vision of
George Washington at Valley Forge, where he saw that America would remain true
to her Creator. “Son of the Republic… Three great perils will come upon the
Republic. The most fearful is the third, but in this greatest conflict the
whole world united shall not prevail against her.” These words are not mere
nostalgia—they are a call to covenantal fidelity. To live for God, for land,
and for Union is to resist despair and embody hope. The vision ends with a
stirring line: “I started from my seat and felt that I had seen a vision
wherein had been shown to me the birth, progress, and destiny of the United
States.” In this, we are reminded that hope is not passive—it is a posture of
worship, a vineyard act, a civic intercession.
It is the quiet certainty that the God of
hope still reigns.
St.
John of Capistrano[3]
St. John was born in 1386 at Capistrano in the Italian Province of the Abruzzi. His father was a German knight and died when he was still young. When war broke out between Perugia and Malatesta in 1416, St. John tried to broker a peace. Unfortunately, his opponents ignored the truce, and St. John became a prisoner of war. On the death of his wife, he entered the order of Friars Minor, was ordained and began to lead a very penitential life. John became a disciple of Saint Bernadine of Siena and a noted preacher.
·
The
world at the time was in need of strong men to work for salvation of souls.
·
Thirty
percent of the population was killed by the Black Plague; the Church was split
in schism and there were several men claiming to be pope.
·
As
an Itinerant priest throughout Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary,
Poland, and Russia, St. John preached to tens of thousands and established
communities of Franciscan renewal.
·
He
reportedly healed the sick by making the Sign of the Cross over them. He also
wrote extensively, mainly against the heresies of the day.
·
He
was successful in reconciling heretics.
After the
fall of Constantinople, he preached a crusade against the Muslim Turks. At age
70 he was commissioned by Pope Callistus II to lead it and marched off at the
head of 70,000 Christian soldiers. He won the great battle of Belgrade in the
summer of 1456. He died in the field a few months later, but his army delivered
Europe from the Moslems.
Things to Do
·
St.
John struggled with finding his vocation. Younger people can pray to St. John
for help in discerning God's will for their lives.
·
Learn
more about the times that St. John Capistrano lived, such as the Crusades, the
Black Plague, anti-popes.
·
St.
John is the patron of jurists. We can turn to him to help discern major
decisions. We can also follow his example of strict self-discipline in order to
think more clearly.
·
In
1776 in Southern California, Father Junipera Serra founded the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, named for St.
John, for mission work to the Indians. The mission is a historical site and has
both a Catholic Basilica and the original smaller chapel that are still used
for Catholic liturgy. See the Wikipedia page. There is also a
tradition of the swallows returning to San Juan every March 19. Find out more about this annual
event.
Christus Vincet[4]
How do you see the mysteries of the Lord’s Sacred Passion manifest in the Church today?
As Christ’s Mystical Body and His Bride, the Church must pass through the mysteries of her Divine Spouse. The current crisis is without any doubt the moment of the deepest suffering for the Church, of her most intense participation in the Sacred Passion of Christ. The greatest Passion of the Church is not persecution by her enemies from outside, but persecution by her enemies from within ruthless people without faith who have managed to reach high and influential ecclesiastical offices.
When Christ suffered in Gethsemane, He didn’t receive support from His Apostles, since even the three whom He took with Him into the garden slept while He prayed and suffered the deepest spiritual anguish, His agony. When Christ was arrested and interrogated, the Apostle Peter, whom He constituted the visible rock of His Church, in a cowardly way thrice denied Him. When Christ was crucified, there remained only one faithful Apostle at His side, St. John, together with Our Lady and the other holy women.
From the circumstances of Christ’s Passion, we can better understand the spiritual and even mystical sense of the suffering of Christ’s Bride, the Church. The current crisis within the Church represents the deepest form of suffering, since the Church is now persecuted, scourged, stripped, and derided not by her enemies but to a large extent by her Shepherds, by many of those who are successors of the Apostles, by many traitors in the clerical ranks who are the new Judases.
Here I cannot fail to quote the following words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, which he wrote in 1948 and which are strikingly relevant and significant for the current situation: “[Satan] will set up a Counter-church, which will be the ape of the Church. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content.... The False Prophet will have a religion without a cross. A religion without a world to come. A religion to destroy religions. There will be a counterfeit Church. Christ’s Church will be one, and the False Prophet will create the other. The false Church will be worldly, ecumenical, and global. It will be a loose federation of churches and religions, forming some type of global association, a world parliament of Churches. It will be emptied of all divine content; it will be the mystical body of the Antichrist. The Mystical Body on earth today will have its Judas Iscariot, and he will be the False Prophet. Satan will recruit him from our bishops.”
This is a fearsome thought, that Satan will corrupt the hierarchy of the Church in order to establish a false Church. How should the faithful respond?
When Christ suffered in Gethsemane, He was strengthened by an angel. This is a deep mystery: God in His human nature wanted to be consoled and strengthened by a creature. In this enormous spiritual crisis, we are witnessing inside the Church, Christ is being consoled and strengthened by the souls who remain faithful to the purity of the Catholic faith, by souls who live a chaste Christian life, by souls who are committed to a life of intense prayer, by souls who do not run away from the suffering Christ, from the suffering Mother Church. The consolation and strength which Christ received from the angel in Gethsemane already contained the acts of expiation and reparation of all the faithful souls throughout the history of the Church.
So many souls are suffering in our day, especially over the past fifty years, because of the tremendous crisis of the Church. The most precious are hidden sufferings of the little ones, of the persons who were put out to the periphery of Church by the liberal, worldly, and unbelieving ecclesiastical establishment. Their sufferings are precious, since they are consoling and strengthening Christ who is mystically suffering in our current crisis within the Church. We also know the famous expression of Blaise Pascal in his Pensées: “Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world. We must not sleep during that time” (n. 533). The current crisis of the Church, which is a mystical suffering of Christ in and for His Church, should call us to avoid spiritual sleep and be watchful, so that we may not be deceived by the spirit of the world which has so penetrated the Church. When the Church was passing through the great tempest of spiritual crisis in the sixteenth century—a crisis caused mainly by the infidelity, spiritual laziness, and scandalous lifestyle of the clergy—St. Peter Canisius, the second apostle of Germany, formulated this shocking phrase: “Peter sleeps, but Judas is awake.”
We can fully apply this statement to the current crisis in the Church. The highest ecclesiastical authorities were to a great extent sleeping during the past five decades, by not preventing the promotion of unworthy persons to influential ecclesiastical positions. Unbelieving and oftentimes morally corrupt bishops and cardinals were the new Judases, who were very much awake and ready to betray Christ in various ways. Memorable are the words of St. Vincent de Paul, who said that priests who live like the vast majority are the greatest enemies of the Church, and that the depravity of the clerical state is the principal cause of the ruin of the Church.
These words are fully applicable to the current situation of the crisis within the Church. Cardinal Robert Sarah, in his recent book Le soir approche et déjà le jour baisse [The Day is Now Far Spent], speaks about the shattering reality and mystery of Judas in the ranks of the clergy. The first chapter of his book is entitled, “Alas, Judas Iscariot,” where we read the following words: “The mystery of betrayal oozes from the walls of the Church.... We experience the mystery of iniquity, the mystery of betrayal, the mystery of Judas.... The evil of an efficacious activism has infiltrated everywhere.... We seek to imitate the organization of large companies. We forget that only prayer is the blood that can irrigate the heart of the Church.... The one who does not pray anymore has already betrayed. Already he is ready for all the compromises with the world. He is walking on the path of Judas.”
However, even in midst of so many clerical Judases inside the Church today, we have to maintain always a supernatural vision of the victory of Christ, who will triumph through the suffering of His Bride, who will triumph through the suffering of the pure and little ones in all ranks of the members of the Church: children, youth, families, religious, priests, bishops, and cardinals. When they remain faithful to Christ, when they keep unblemished the Catholic faith, when they live in chastity and humility, they are the pure and little ones in the Church.
The following words of St. Paul, which aptly apply to individual souls, apply in much the same way to the Church, and to the Church of our days in particular: “If we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:17). St. Alexander of Alexandria, the immediate predecessor of St. Athanasius, left us the following precious statement on the invincibility of the Church: “The only one catholic and apostolic Church will remain always indestructible, even if the entire world wages war against her. Because her Lord strengthened her, saying: ‘Take heart! I have overcome the world’ (Jn 16:33).”
On the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square are inscribed the words Christus vincit, and the tip of that obelisk contains a relic of the true Cross. The Roman Church, the Apostolic See of St. Peter, is crowned, so to speak, with these luminous words Christus vincit, and with the power of the Holy Cross of Christ. Even if during the present crisis and spiritual obfuscation one might have the impression that the enemies of Christ and His Cross have to a certain extent occupied the Holy See, Christ will defeat them. Christus vincit!
Bible in a Year Day 110 David and Goliath
Today we read the epic story of how David defeats Goliath, a giant Philistine warrior. Fr. Mike points out that David's heroic courage in this battle came from David's faithfulness to God and to the small tasks entrusted to him as a shepherd. We learn that when we are faithful and courageous in small matters, we can face the giants in our bigger battles. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 17 and Psalm 12.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Increase in the
Religious and Consecrated Life.
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: October
·
Litany of the Most Precious Blood
of Jesus
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Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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