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Smoke in This Life and Not the Next
Pick Your Preference — Smoke & Drink
Pick your smoke — whatever you reach for without thinking.
Pick your drink — whatever burns just enough to remind you you’re alive.
The point isn’t the label.
The point is the lesson:
the small fire you choose now teaches you how to face the great fire later.
✨ Purgatory in the Divine Plan (Short, Sharp, True)
A Carmelite tradition tells of a mystic — often named as Teresa of Avila — who saw a deceased priest suffering in Purgatory, weighed down not by scandal but by the small, unpurified habits that cling to a man who served God publicly. She didn’t scold him or shrug at his fate. She offered her own merits, united to Christ’s, with the boldness of someone who knows love outruns justice — and the fire broke.
That is the communion of saints in its rawest form: the holy dragging the half‑holy into glory. A man with a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other can understand this better than he thinks: your sacrifices matter, your merits matter, and someone else’s eternity may depend on your willingness to burn now so another man burns less.
Patience’s Corner
Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. (Luke 2:20)
· Bucket List trip: Chocolate Festival in Bariloche
· Catholic Activity: Easter Garden I
- Try “National Cheeseball Day [5]”
· 30 Days with St. Joseph Day 29
· Spirit Hour: Malbec Wine
· Get an indulgence
APRIL 17 Friday
of the Second Week of Easter
Psalm 27, verse 1:
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be AFRAID?
This verse is and should be our declaration of faith. Let us commit it to memorization and repeat it to ourselves daily or when fear and doubt rear’s its ugly head within our depths. Doing this will help us trust the Lord and develop a true relationship of love with the Trinity through prayer. God will become our sanctuary, and we will be able to put away our fears and rest in the arms of God.
We will no longer have to pretend that we are not afraid for we will trust the Lord with our whole being offering our lives, families, time and treasure with total peace. We will be able to sleep and awaken easily. The old Navajo adage will no longer apply to us; you cannot wake a person who is pretending to be asleep; due to our faith in God.
Through our reliance in Him we will be able to say with King David, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted and wait for the LORD.” (Psalm 27:13-14).
Copilot’s Take
Psalm 27:1 is the Catechism’s entire doctrine of
fear condensed into a single line: fear is reordered only when God becomes the
center. The Catechism teaches that fortitude is the virtue that “ensures
firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good” (CCC 1808).
That means fear is not erased; it is mastered. It becomes a servant of truth
rather than a tyrant of the imagination. When the psalm says, “Whom should I
fear?” it is not denying danger—it is declaring that danger no longer governs
the heart.
The Catechism also teaches that trust in God is not
an emotion but a relationship. Prayer “opens the heart to the hope of
salvation” (CCC 2657), and hope “keeps a man from discouragement” (CCC 1818).
This is why repeating Psalm 27 is not superstition; it is formation. Every time
you speak it, you are training your soul to return to its true center. Fear
shrinks when the heart remembers who holds it.
Confronting fear, then, is not about becoming
fearless. It is about becoming anchored. The Catechism says that God is our
“refuge and strength” (CCC 2090), and that confidence in Him produces the
courage to act, to wait, and to endure. This is the courage David names at the
end of the psalm: “Be stouthearted and wait for the Lord.” Fear loses its power
when the soul stops pretending and starts trusting.
The question that remains is simple: which fear in
your life is asking to be reordered by God rather than resisted by willpower?
Bible in a
year Day 287 Eleazar's
Sacrifice
Fr. Mike illustrates the story of Eleazar and the
abandonment of peace terms between the Jews and the Greeks. He also recognizes
the pain that children and family members who don’t follow the Lord can bring
about, and uses wisdom from Sirach to address this prevalent struggle. Today’s
readings are 1 Maccabees 6, Sirach 16-18, and Proverbs 22:17-21.
Fitness Friday
Modern populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially isolated.[1]
Small
Doses of Physical Activity Can Lower Risks of Depression[2]
Depression is a leading cause of disability burden in developing
countries and a common mental health disorder worldwide. While pharmacotherapy
and psychotherapy currently represent elective therapy, their impact is still
limited in prevalence, and one third of people with depression remain
unresponsive to treatment. Additionally, pharmacotherapy may have adverse
side-effects and both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy cannot resolve physical
comorbidities associated with depression. Nevertheless, several modifiable
factors can favorably act on depression, and they are far from being
ascertained. One of these may be physical activity. Moderate evidence sustains
a beneficial effect of exercise on depression symptoms.
Exercise for depression.[3]
Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put
you off being more active.
Regular exercise can boost your mood if you have depression, and
it's especially useful for people with mild to moderate depression.
Any type of exercise is useful, as long as it suits you and you do
enough of it. Exercise should be something you enjoy; otherwise, it will be
hard to find the motivation to do it regularly.
How often do you need to exercise?
To stay healthy, adults should do 150
minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week. Read more about:
physical
activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 years old
physical
activity guidelines for older adults
If you have not exercised for a while, start gradually and aim to
build up towards achieving 150 minutes a week.
Any exercise is better than none and even a brisk 10-minute walk can clear your mind and help you relax. Find out more about walking for health.
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH
The Hail Mary[4]
Hail, Mary, full of
grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 2761.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Individuals
with mental illness
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Make some Monastery Soup
[5] Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods
To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (p. 892). Workman Publishing
Company. Kindle Edition.
THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946)
Dorothy McGuire & George Brent
A study in fear, vulnerability, and the quiet courage of a woman without a voice
1. Production & Historical Setting
Released in 1946, directed by Robert Siodmak — a master of German‑expressionist lighting who brought shadow, distortion, and psychological tension to American cinema.
Adapted from Ethel Lina White’s novel Some Must Watch, reshaped into a tight, atmospheric thriller.
Filmed in the post‑war moment when audiences were ready for stories about hidden danger and moral testing.
The mansion setting is deliberately claustrophobic — a single house turned into a labyrinth of secrets, staircases, and watching eyes.
This is noir‑horror crafted with restraint: elegant, shadow‑driven, and morally symbolic.
2. Story Summary
Helen (Dorothy McGuire), a young woman rendered mute by past trauma, works as a companion in a large New England mansion.
A serial killer is targeting women with perceived “imperfections,” and the town is already on edge.
Inside the house:
- Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), bedridden but sharp, senses danger before anyone else.
- Professor Warren (George Brent) is calm, intelligent, and unsettlingly composed.
- The household staff carry secrets, resentments, and quiet fears.
As a storm traps everyone inside, Helen becomes the next target.
Her muteness — her greatest vulnerability — becomes the film’s central tension: she cannot scream, cannot call for help, cannot warn others.
The climax unfolds on the spiral staircase itself, where truth, identity, and danger converge in a single, expressionist sequence.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. Helen as the Icon of Silent Courage
She moves through fear without a voice.
She endures danger without theatrics.
Her vulnerability becomes the stage for her strength.
She represents every soul who must act without being able to explain themselves.
B. The House as the Human Interior
Rooms as memories.
Staircases as the ascent and descent of the soul.
Shadows as unconfessed fears.
The killer is not just a threat — he is the embodiment of the darkness a person refuses to confront.
C. Evil as the Voice That Names Others “Imperfect”
The murderer targets women for their “flaws,” revealing a spiritual truth:
evil always begins by misjudging the worth of another person.
The film exposes the cruelty of perfectionism and the violence hidden in contempt.
This is a Lenten film: fear confronted, darkness exposed, and a woman’s quiet endurance becoming her salvation.
4. Hospitality Pairing
New England Storm Table
- A small bowl of clam chowder or potato‑leek soup
- A slice of warm bread with salted butter
- A simple whiskey or dark tea
- One lamp or candle lit in an otherwise dim room
Food for a night when the wind rises, the house creaks, and the soul listens.
5. Reflection Prompts
- Where am I being asked to move through fear without needing to speak.
- What “shadowed rooms” in my interior life still need light.
- Do I judge others by their imperfections, or do I see them as God sees them.
- What staircase am I being asked to climb — slowly, quietly, faithfully — toward courage.
- How does vulnerability become a form of strength in my own story.
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