Monday, January 12, 2026

🔸 January 2026 – Conscience & Vocation

Jan 5 – Shadowlands (1994)
Jan 12 – Three Godfathers (1948)
Jan 19 – I Confess (1953)
Jan 26 – The Wrong Man (1956)

Here’s a polished, spiritually attuned, blog‑ready breakdown of Three Godfathers (1948)—perfect for your classic-film cycle, your Christmas-season reflections, or your ongoing work of weaving Catholic moral themes into hospitality and legacy formation.

🎬 Three Godfathers (1948)

A Western Nativity, a Redemption Tale, and a Study in Masculine Vocation

Directed by: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr.
Plot & critical details sourced from:

🌵 1. Plot Summary (Clean, Tight, and Theologically Useful)

Three outlaws—Bob Hightower, Pete Fuerte, and The Abilene Kid—rob a bank in Welcome, Arizona and flee into the desert. Sheriff Buck Sweet pursues them relentlessly. Their escape collapses when they lose their horses and stumble upon a dying woman in childbirth.

With her last breath, she entrusts her newborn son to them.
They promise to bring the child safely to New Jerusalem—a name Ford chooses with zero subtlety.

The film becomes a Western retelling of the Christmas story, with the three outlaws functioning as rough-edged Magi, bearing not gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but courage, sacrifice, and repentance.

One by one, the men fall—some literally, some morally, some sacrificially—until only Hightower remains to carry the child through the desert. Ford explicitly frames him as a Prodigal Son figure in the final act.

✝️ 2. Catholic Moral Reading

This film is tailor-made for your devotional and parenting frameworks. It practically begs to be read through the lens of:

A. The Nativity

A child born in poverty
A mother dying in labor
Three men who should be nowhere near a miracle
A journey toward a place called New Jerusalem

Ford is not hiding the parallels. He’s catechizing through Technicolor.

B. Redemption as Vocation

The men begin as criminals, but the baby becomes their summons to fatherhood, sacrifice, and moral clarity.
This aligns beautifully with your ongoing theme:

“Discipline as discipleship; fatherhood as formation.”

C. The Desert as Purgation

The desert sequences—praised for their beauty—function as a spiritual stripping.
No water.
No horses.
No illusions.
Only the truth of who they are and who they must become.

D. The Law vs. Mercy

Sheriff Sweet is relentless but not cruel.
The film’s final movement is a meditation on justice tempered by mercy—something you’ve been integrating into your parenting and devotional work.

🍷 3. Hospitality Pairing (Your Signature Touch)

A Western Nativity deserves a drink that blends:

Heat of the desert
Tenderness of the Nativity
Masculine repentance
Christmas symbolism

The Desert Epiphany

A rugged but gentle cocktail using your bar stock:

Ingredients (all from your shelf):

Bourbon (the outlaw’s backbone)
Cointreau (citrus brightness = star in the East)
A splash of Baileys (the tenderness of the child)
Dash of Kahlúa (the desert night)
Serve over ice, garnish with a twist of lime (your signature)

Symbolism:

Bourbon = the men’s roughness
Baileys = the infant’s innocence
Cointreau = guidance
Kahlúa = the long night of the soul
Lime = the unexpected grace that cuts through everything

🕯️ 4. Parenting & Formation Lesson

This film gives you a ready-made entry for your Christmas discipline blog series.

Lesson: “A Man Becomes Who He Carries.”

The three outlaws change not because they are punished, but because they are entrusted.
Responsibility—not fear—transforms them.

For your seven children, this becomes a legacy line:

“You rise to the weight you carry. Choose your burdens wisely.”

📜 5. Closing Reflection

Three Godfathers is not merely a Western.
It is a catechesis in Technicolor:

A Nativity in the desert
A Prodigal Son with a baby in his arms
A meditation on masculine sacrifice
A reminder that grace often arrives swaddled and crying

Ford gives us a world where even outlaws can become Magi, and where the road to New Jerusalem is walked by men who finally understand what it means to be fathers.

Christopher’s Corner

· Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels

· Carnival Time begins in Catholic Countries.

· Spirit Hour: Champagne Cocktail

· Monday: Litany of Humility

· Bucket List trip: Bora Bora

· Try: Asian Pear

· Plan winter fun:

Soak in hot springs
Hit the snow slopes
Ride a snowmobile
Go for a dog sled ride
Ride a hot air balloon

🕯️ Bucket List Trip [3] – Part 12 (Budget Edition)

USA 70‑Degree Year Journey

Dates: January 12–19, 2026
Theme: Desert Ordinary Time – Light in the Wilderness
Route: Tampa → Phoenix → Sedona → Cottonwood → Jerome
Climate: 68–72°F highs
Budget Target: $1,000 total

💰 Updated Budget Overview (Ultra‑Cheap Mode)

Category	Estimated Cost
Flights (TPA → PHX)	~$150 (budget airline, no bags)
Lodging (7 nights)	~$420 (mix of budget inns + Cottonwood/Sedona off‑peak deals)
Food	~$210 (simple meals + 1–2 treats)
Transit (compact rental + gas)	~$180
Symbolic extras	~$40
Total	~$1,000

Key savings strategies:

Stay in Cottonwood instead of Sedona (½ the price, same access).
Use free desert sites (Papago, Jerome, Cathedral Rock trailhead).
Eat one restaurant meal per day, rest grocery‑store simple.
Rent the cheapest compact and avoid add‑ons.
No paid tours, no museum fees unless essential.

🛏️ Budget Lodging Options (All Under $65–70/night)

Phoenix (2 nights)

Red Roof Inn Phoenix Airport
EZ 8 Motel Airporter

Cottonwood (5 nights)

Little Daisy Motel
Iron Horse Inn (Jerome access, still cheap in January)
Pines Inn & Suites (off‑season deals)

Cottonwood is your secret weapon: warm, central, quiet, and inexpensive.

🌄 DAILY ITINERARY (Budget‑Optimized)

🌞 Day 1 – Monday, January 12

Location: St. Mary’s Basilica, Phoenix

Symbol: Ordinary Time Dawn
Ritual Prompt: “Return to the desert with the Light you carry.”
Evening Mass (free).
Food: Food City hot bar (~$10)

🌵 Day 2 – Tuesday, January 13

Location: Papago Park – Hole‑in‑the‑Rock
Symbol: Desert Threshold
Ritual Prompt: “Let the wilderness simplify the heart.”
Sunrise climb + silence (free).
Food: Fry’s grocery sandwich + fruit (~$8)

🏜️ Day 3 – Wednesday, January 14

Location: Scottsdale – Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Symbol: Marian Shelter
Ritual Prompt: “Mother, keep me steady in the ordinary.”
Candle lighting (free).
Drive to Cottonwood (1.5 hrs).
Food: Filiberto’s burrito (~$9)

🔥 Day 4 – Thursday, January 15

Location: Cathedral Rock (Sedona)
Symbol: Pillar of Fire
Ritual Prompt: “Stand where the earth rises toward heaven.”
Hike the saddle (free).
Food: Safeway deli + drink (~$12)

🌌 Day 5 – Friday, January 16

Location: Chapel of the Holy Cross

Symbol: Rock of Refuge
Ritual Prompt: “Christ, carve Your peace into my days.”
Pray the Litany of Humility (free).
Food: Cottonwood Thai Palace lunch special (~$14)

🏞️ Day 6 – Saturday, January 17

Location: Jerome – Historic Mining Town
Symbol: Heights of Perspective
Ritual Prompt: “Rise above what once buried you.”
Walk the switchbacks (free).
Food: Mile High Grill breakfast (~$12)

✨ Day 7 – Sunday, January 18

Location: Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Cottonwood
Symbol: Desert Eucharist
Ritual Prompt: “Let the Word take root in dry ground.”
Mass + blog reflection: “Light in the Wilderness.”
Food: Grocery store picnic (~$10)

🌠 Why This Works at $1,000

Lodging: $60 × 7 nights = $420
Food: $30/day = $210
Flight: ~$150 (January is cheap)
Car + gas: ~$180
Extras: ~$40

Total: $1,000

January 12 Plough Monday

Genesis, Chapter 38, Verse 11

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”—for he FEARED that Shelah also might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

Judah feared his youngest would die like his two brothers who married Tamar and failed to provide for her children from the marriage sending her back to her father; fearing she was cursed causing Judah’s two older son’s deaths. This sordid tale reads like a soap opera.

Tamar is first described as marrying Judah's eldest son, Er. Because of his wickedness, Er was killed by God.By way of a Levirate union, (a marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow) Judah asked his second son, Onan, to provide offspring for Tamar so that the family line might continue. Tikva Frymer-Kensky explains that this could have substantial economic repercussions, with any son born deemed the heir of the deceased Er, and able to claim the firstborn's double share of inheritance. However, if Er was childless, Onan would inherit as the oldest surviving son. Onan spills his seed out on the ground as an act of greed.

His actions were deemed wicked by God and so, like his older brother, he died prematurely. At this point, Judah is portrayed as viewing Tamar to be cursed, and is therefore reluctant to give his remaining and youngest son to her. Rather, he told Tamar to wait for Shelah, his son to grow older. However, even after he grew up, Judah did not give Tamar to Shelah in marriage.

At the time Shelah grew up, Judah became a widower. After Judah mourned the death of his wife, he planned on going to Timnah to shear his sheep. Upon hearing this news, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and immediately went to Enaim which was en route to Judah's destination. Upon arriving at Enaim, Judah saw the woman but did not recognize her as Tamar because of the veil she wore over her face. Thinking she was a prostitute; he requested her services. Tamar's plan was to become pregnant by this ruse in order to bear a child in Judah's line, because Judah had not given her to his son Shelah. So she played the part of a prostitute and struck a deal with Judah for a goat with a security deposit of his staff, seal, and cord. When Judah was able to have a goat sent to Enaim, in order to collect his staff and seal, the woman was nowhere to be found and no one knew of any prostitute in Enaim.

Three months later, Tamar was accused of prostitution on account of her pregnancy. Upon hearing this news, Judah ordered that she be burned to death. Tamar sent the staff, seal, and cord to Judah with a message declaring that the owner of these items was the man who had made her pregnant. Upon recognizing his security deposit, Judah released Tamar from her sentence. Tamar's place in the family and Judah's posterity secured, she gives birth to twins, Perez and Zerah. Their birth is reminiscent of the birth of Rebekah's twin sons. The midwife marks Zerah's hand with a scarlet cord when it emerges from the womb first, but Perez is born first.Perez is identified in the Book of Ruth as the ancestor of King David.[1]

Whew! To Er is human but to love is divine. It is stuff like this that sometimes makes you want to go out into the desert and become a hermit.

Copilot’s Take-On Confronting Evil

Evil in Genesis 38 doesn’t roar—it whispers through fear, avoidance, and the quiet abdication of responsibility, the very patterns that hollow out families and corrode justice from within. Judah’s terror of losing another son becomes the soil in which injustice grows, leaving Tamar abandoned and exposed, yet it is precisely her courage to bring truth into the light—and Judah’s humility to receive it—that breaks the cycle. In this strange, desert‑worthy tale, God shows that confronting evil is less about slaying monsters and more about naming fear, refusing to hide, and allowing truth to plough open the hardened ground of the heart. Tamar’s boldness and Judah’s repentance become the unlikely furrow through which the lineage of David—and ultimately Christ—emerges, reminding us that God does His most redemptive work in the ruins we would rather flee than face

Plough Monday[2] is the traditional start of the English agricultural year. While local practices may vary, Plough Monday is generally the first Monday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany), 6 January. The day traditionally saw the resumption of work after the Christmas period.

As we begin our working year let us remember that our primary work in the world as a follower of Christ is to do his will for us putting our hand on the plough and looking forward to the year; may all of our days and rows be straight.

No man, having put his hand ... - To put one's hand to a plow is a proverbial expression to signify undertaking any business. In order that a plowman may accomplish his work, it is necessary to look onward - to be intent on his employment - not to be looking back with regret that he undertook it. So, in religion, He that enters on it must do it with his whole heart, He that comes still loving the world - still looking with regret on its pleasures, its wealth, and its honors - that has not "wholly" forsaken them as his portion, cannot be a Christian, and is not fit for the kingdom of God. How searching is this test to those who profess to be Christians! And how solemn the duty of all people to renounce all earthly objects, and to be not only "almost," but "altogether," followers of the Son of God! It is perilous to tamper with the world - to look at its pleasures or to seek its society. He that would enter heaven must come with a heart full of love to God; giving "all" into his hands, and prepared always to give up all his property, his health, his friends, his body, his soul to God, when he demands them, or he cannot be a Christian. Religion is everything or nothing. He that is not willing to sacrifice "everything" for the cause of God, is really willing to sacrifice nothing.

Bible in a Year Day 195 Tobias and Sarah pray

Fr. Mike highlights the purity of Tobias and Sarah's love, and the power of their prayer as a married couple. Today we read Isaiah 7-8, Tobit 7-9, and Proverbs 10:5-8.

Climb an Iceberg in Jasper[3]

Thru January 31

The Canadian Rockies is the place for adventure in January. Besides the predictable winter activities — skiing, snowshoeing, skating — Jasper in January hosts fat bike snow races, sleigh riding, dog sledding and ice climbing. And that’s just during the day, Jasper’s evenings offer wine and whiskey tasting, food-a-paloolza, live music, entertainment, kids’ scavenger hunts, plus stargazing and northern-light viewing with s’mores.

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Victims of clergy sexual abuse

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Universal Man Plan

· Rosary

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_%28Genesis%29

[2] Barnes' Notes on the Bible

[3]https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/travels-best/photos/awesome-things-to-do-in-january

Our Very Own (1950)

Ann Blyth • Farley Granger • Jane Wyatt

A Catholic‑minded reflection with hospitality notes

🎬 Plot in Clear Lines

Gail Macaulay (Ann Blyth), a bright Los Angeles teenager, is preparing for her 18th birthday when her younger sister Joan, in a moment of jealousy, discovers and reveals the truth: Gail was adopted. The revelation shakes Gail’s sense of identity. Her adoptive mother Lois (Jane Wyatt) gently explains the circumstances of her birth and arranges a meeting with Gail’s biological mother, Gert Lynch (Ann Dvorak).

But the reunion goes sideways—Gert’s husband unexpectedly stays home, forcing Gert to introduce Gail as “a friend’s daughter.” Gail leaves wounded, confused, and ashamed.

Her boyfriend Chuck (Farley Granger) and her adoptive family rally around her, reminding her that love—not biology—has shaped her life. At graduation, Gail delivers a speech that reframes her crisis: family is the place where love is chosen, given, and lived, not merely inherited.

✝️ Catholic Moral Reading

This film is a gentle catechesis on adoption, identity, and belonging—themes that resonate deeply with Christian anthropology.

1. Identity is received, not constructed

Gail’s crisis mirrors the spiritual truth that our deepest identity is not self‑made but bestowed.
We are adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15), not because we earned it, but because we were loved first.

2. The adoptive parents embody spiritual parenthood

Lois and Fred Macaulay model the quiet, sacrificial love of those who raise children not of their own flesh but of their own heart.
Their tenderness echoes St. Joseph—protector, not progenitor.

3. The biological mother’s shame is a reminder of mercy

Gert’s inability to acknowledge Gail publicly is painful, but it’s also human.
The Church’s response is always mercy:
“A bruised reed He will not break.”
Gert is a bruised reed.