Vinny’s Corner Paradise Lost
So, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Cor. 5:17)
· Saturday Litany of the Hours Invoking the Aid of Mother Mary
· Spirit hour: Harvey Wallbanger Day
· 15 Traditional Spanish Drinks
· How to celebrate Nov 8th
o Start your day with a bold cappuccino to kickstart your morning.
§ Head out for a brisk walk to embrace “National Ample Time Day” and take in the town planning sights.
· On ” National Parents as Teachers Day,” learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby – perhaps tinkering on the piano to celebrate ” World Pianist Day.”
§ Raise awareness for health on ” Pertussis Awareness Day” by cooking up a pungent dish and sharing it with loved ones.
· Take a moment to appreciate the marvels of technology on “National STEM/STEAM Day.”
· Bucket Item trip: 🥾 Braga → Fátima, Portugal
o A Pilgrimage of Apparition, Mercy, and Marian Clarity
Dates: November 9–15
· § Nov 9: Braga → Tomar (via Coimbra, train or bus)
• 🕍 Symbolic Act: “Monastic Memory” — Visit Bom Jesus do Monte
before departure. In Tomar, walk the cloisters of the Convent of Christ, praying for civic renewal and spiritual courage.
o 🛏️ Stay: Hotel dos Templários or Hostel 2300 Thomar
o § Nov 10: Tomar → Fátima (~30 km walk or bus)
• 🕊️ Symbolic Act: “Pilgrim’s Entry” — Enter Fátima in silence. Pause at the Chapel of the Apparitions and offer a prayer for clarity and communal healing.
o 🛏️ Stay: Hotel Domus Pacis or Albergue Pereira
· § Nov 11: Fátima – Shrine Day
• 🕍 Symbolic Act: “Rosary Vigil” — Join the international rosary and candlelight procession at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima.
• 🪨 Symbolic Act: “Stone of Witness” — Leave a small stone near the tombs of Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia as a sign of intercession.
o 🛏️ Stay: Same as previous night
o § Nov 12: Fátima – Aljustrel & Valinhos Walk (~5 km)
• 🏡 Symbolic Act: “Home of the Visionaries” — Walk to Aljustrel, the childhood homes of the seers. Pause at Valinhos, site of the August apparition, and pray for children and civic leaders.
o 🛏️ Stay: Same as previous night
· § Nov 13: Fátima – Excursion to Batalha & Nazaré
• 🕍 Symbolic Act: “Gothic Mercy” — Visit the Monastery of Batalha,
praying in the cloisters for peace among nations.
• 🌊 Symbolic Act: “Ocean Benediction” — At Nazaré, bless your feet in the surf and offer a prayer for environmental stewardship.
o 🛏️ Stay: Return to Fátima
o § Nov 14: Fátima – Excursion to Santarém
• 🕊️ Symbolic Act: “Eucharistic Reflection” — Visit the Church of the Holy Miracle, site of the 13th-century Eucharistic miracle. Offer a prayer for clarity in daily acts.
o 🛏️ Stay: Return to Fátima
· § Nov 15: Fátima – Day of Rest and Departure
• 🕍 Symbolic Act: “Final Benediction” — Attend Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. Sit in silence afterward, sealing your pilgrimage with gratitude.
• 🍇 Optional Act: “Civic Supper” — Share a meal with fellow pilgrims or locals, honoring the saints through hospitality and storytelling.
· 🍽️ Civic Supper of Apparition & Mercy
· Braga → Fátima Pilgrimage Meal | November 9–15
o A 7-course ritual meal echoing the Marian pilgrimage’s themes of mercy, clarity, and civic renewal. Each dish is paired with a symbolic act and reflection, inviting pilgrims to taste the journey they’ve walked.
· 🥖 1. Appetizer – “Monastic Memory”
o Dish: Broa de Milho
with Azeitão cheese and fig jam
Symbol: The layered simplicity of monastic life—earthy, humble, sustaining.
Reflection: As you break bread, recall the cloisters of Tomar and the echo of prayers for civic courage.
· 🥣 2. Soup – “Pilgrim’s Entry”
o Dish: Caldo Verde (kale and potato soup with chouriço)
Symbol: The warmth of welcome and the quiet strength of the land.
Reflection: Sip in silence, remembering your entry into Fátima and the hush of sacred ground.
· 🐟 3. Fish – “Rosary Vigil”
o Dish: Grilled Bacalhau with olive oil, garlic, and roasted peppers
Symbol: The enduring faith of the Portuguese people, preserved like cod through centuries.
Reflection: As the rosary beads pass through your fingers, let each bite be a prayer for peace.
· 🥔 4. Vegetable – “Home of the Visionaries”
o Dish: Roasted root vegetables with herbs from the region
Symbol: The rootedness of the seers’ childhood homes in Aljustrel and the soil of Valinhos.
Reflection: Taste the earth that bore the visionaries. Pray for the children and leaders of your own land.
· 🍖 5. Meat – “Gothic Mercy”
o Dish: Cabrito Assado
(roast kid goat with potatoes and rosemary)
Symbol: Sacrifice and strength, echoing the Gothic arches of Batalha’s monastery.
Reflection: Offer a prayer for nations in conflict. May mercy be carved into history.
· 🌊 6. Palate Cleanser – “Ocean Benediction”
o Dish: Lemon sorbet with sea salt and mint
Symbol: The cleansing surf of Nazaré and the salt of the earth.
Reflection: Let this course wash over you like the Atlantic tide. Bless your feet, your path, your planet.
· 🍮 7. Dessert – “Eucharistic Reflection”
o Dish: Pastel de Nata with a drizzle of port wine reduction
Symbol: The sweetness of clarity and the mystery of the Eucharist in Santarém.
Reflection: As you savor this final course, recall the miracle of daily bread and the clarity it brings.
· 🍷 Communal Toast – “Final Benediction”
o Drink: A glass of Vinho Verde or Ginja de Óbidos
Blessing:
o “To the seed that falls, the stone that witnesses, and the voice that rises in mercy.”
NOVEMBER
8 Saturday
John,
Chapter 12,
Verse 25
Whoever LOVES his life--loses it, and
whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.
We are all seeds and a seed that is not buried will
not bear fruit. Jesus is mentioning his
own self-giving which He joins to that of His disciples. They are called to
identical servant roles.[1]
This is servant leadership.
The servant leader is servant first….
Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to
serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That
person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of
the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.
For such people, it will be a later choice to serve—after leadership is
established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types.
Between them are the shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety
of human nature (Greenleaf, 2002, pp. 24-25)
Finding your Voice[2]
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness is a book written by Stephen R. Covey, published in 2004. It is an upgrade of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989. As such, it clarifies and reinforces Covey's earlier declaration that "Interdependence is a higher value than independence." The eighth habit is "Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." Voice is Covey's code for "unique personal significance." Those who inspire others to find theirs are the leaders needed now and for the future, according to Covey. The central idea of the book is the need for steady recovery and application of the whole person paradigm, which holds that persons have four intelligences - physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. Denial of any of them reduces persons to things, inviting many problems. The industrial age is assumed to have been a period dependent on such denial. Covey believed the information age and a foreseen "Age of Wisdom" requires "whole" people (in whole jobs). The book talks of "5 Cancerous Behaviors" that inhibit people's greatness:
·
Complaining
People can discover their voice because of the three
gifts everyone is born with:
·
The
freedom to choose
·
The
natural laws or principles – those that dictate the consequences of behavior.
Positive consequences come from fairness, kindness, respect, honesty,
integrity, service and contribution
·
The
four intelligences – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Covey talks
about great achievers expressing their voice through the use of their
intelligences.
Achievers for example
1.
develop
their mental energy into vision
2.
develop
their physical energy into discipline
3.
develop
their emotional energy into passion
4.
develop
their spiritual energy into conscience – their inward moral sense of what is
right and wrong and their drive towards meaning and contribution.
Copilot’s Take
🌱 “Unless a grain of wheat falls…”
John 12:25 invites us into the sacred paradox of surrender: that life preserved is life lost, and life given is life eternal. Jesus, the seed buried in love, calls us to join Him—not in dominance, but in servanthood. Greenleaf’s servant-first leader echoes this call: to lead not from power, but from the ache to serve. Covey’s eighth habit—finding your voice—is the fruit of such burial. It is not self-expression for its own sake, but the flowering of vision, discipline, passion, and conscience.
To lead as Jesus did is to be buried in love, watered by
conscience, and raised in communal fruitfulness. The cancerous behaviors Covey
names—criticism, complaining, comparing, competing, contending—are the weeds
that choke the seed. But the gifts we’re born with—freedom, principles, and the
four intelligences—are the soil of resurrection.
🕊️ Servant leadership is not a strategy—it is a liturgy.
It is the Eucharistic rhythm of dying to self and rising in service. It is the
voice that whispers, “I am here to serve first.” And it is the fruit that feeds
others, not the fame that feeds self.
Bible in a Year Day 126 David's Victories
Fr. Mike emphasizes how King David's victories in
battle are part of his calling to establish Israel as a kingdom. He also
reminds us that the recapitulation of the events we read about 1 Chronicles
10-11, is not repetitive, it served a specific purpose for the people of
Israel. Today we read 2 Samuel 8, 1 Chronicles 10-11 and Psalm 60.
Cappuccino Day[3]
Italy is
famous for the variety of coffees it produces. Cappuccinos are loved among
coffee lovers and despite its vague history, many people still appreciate the
comfort it brings. Thus, comes a happy day called Cappuccino Day, where people
from all over can order a frothy and whipped cup of coffee and eat with
whatever meal they’re having. Let’s take a look at how Cappuccino Day came to
be.
The name “Cappuccino”
came from the Capuchin Friars, a minor order of friars within the Catholic Church, who in the 16th century was well known for their missionary work helping the poor and were dedicated to extreme austerity, poverty, and simplicity. Wearing a brown robe with a pointed hood, it is believed that the name stemmed from a specific person in the order, Marco d’Aviano. According to the Telegraph, when an Ottoman Turk army tried marching into Vienna in 1683, d’Aviano united the outnumbered Christian troops and made them victorious in defending Vienna. The legend says that after the Turks fled, they left behind Ottoman coffee, and because the Christians found it to be bitter, they sweetened it with milk and honey and named it after the Order of Capuchins. Another source says that the idea of the cappuccino drink appears to have originated in the 1700’s, in the “Kapuziner” coffee houses in Austria, which contained coffee with cream and sugar and eventually added spices. However, the cappuccino we know today was invented in Italy during the 1900’s after the invention of the espresso machine gained popularity. The first record of the cappuccino appeared in the 1930’s. After World War II, the espresso machine improved, and so changed the process of making cappuccinos, which now have steamed and frothed cream and thus spread its popularity around the world.
How to
Celebrate Cappuccino Day
Buy a cappuccino at your favorite cafe. If you’d rather have a cup at home, get an espresso machine and make a cup yourself. Or if you love the process of making cappuccinos, look up famous baristas and be wowed by their ability to make beautiful creations with coffee. Cappuccinos are one of the hardest drinks to make, but their elegance and frothy taste will be sure to have you wanting a cup for yourself. If you’re a lover of taking photos of your food, take a picture of your cappuccino and hashtag #CappuccinoDay to show to your friends.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite
in the work of the Porters of St.
Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Protection of Traditional Marriages
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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