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Smoke in This Life and Not the Next
Friday, May 8
The Virtue: Purification Through Constancy
Tonight’s Pairing
Cigar: A firm‑pressed Maduro — slow, disciplined, the kind of leaf that forces a man to stay with the burn
Drink: A straight rye — sharp, clarifying, the drink of men who refuse to soften the truth
Reason: tonight is about the truth that follows a man, the truth he cannot outrun, the truth God purifies not with spectacle but with steady, unrelenting correction.
The Reflection
Purgatory is not the furnace of the wicked
but the workshop of the unfinished—
the place where God refuses to let a man enter Heaven
with half‑formed virtues
or uncorrected loyalties.
St. Gregory gives us the pattern again in Paschasius,
the deacon whose charity was real,
whose doctrine was sound,
whose sanctity was confirmed by miracles—
and who still found himself laboring after death
in the heat of the baths,
performing the low work
that matched the low place
where his judgment had failed.
His fault was not rebellion.
Not pride.
Not corruption.
It was constancy misplaced—
remaining loyal to the wrong men,
standing firm in the wrong camp,
holding his ground where truth did not stand with him.
When he appeared to Germain of Capua,
he did not justify himself.
He did not reinterpret events.
He did not negotiate.
He simply said:
“I here expiate the wrong I did.”
No drama.
No self‑defense.
Just a soul under correction,
accepting the truth he had avoided in life.
This is the fire of May 8:
not the fire that destroys,
but the fire that finishes—
the fire that burns away the stubborn parts of a man
that refuse to be taught.
The Maduro fits the lesson:
slow, steady, unhurried—
the kind of smoke that forces a man
to stay where he is
until the work is done.
The rye matches it:
sharp, clean, uncompromising—
the drink of a man who wants to be true
more than he wants to be comfortable.
The law is the same for every man:
God purifies not only our sins
but our misplaced loyalties,
our unfinished virtues,
our half‑formed constancy.
Better to let the steady fire do its work now.
Purgatory Note
Paschasius was not broken by violence
but shaped by repetition—
the quiet, humbling labor
that burns away self‑trust
and restores right allegiance.
His purification ended
the moment Germain’s prayer
completed the last stroke of the chisel.
No spectacle.
No thunder.
Just absence—
the silence of a soul finally aligned.
Better to take the steady smoke now.
Better to drink the sharp rye now.
Better to let constancy be corrected now—
and not the next.
MAY 8 Friday of
the Fifth Week of Easter
Apparition of St. Michael
1 SAMUEL, Chapter 22, Verse 23
Stay
with me. Do not be AFRAID; whoever
seeks your life must seek my life also. You are under my protection.”
David
said this to Abiathar: the sole survivor of Eli’s
household which Saul killed for giving aid to David. David now has in his
service the only priest of the Lord left in the land and exclusive access to
the ephod for consulting the Lord. David later appoints Abiathar co-high priest
with Zadok in Jerusalem.
Yet,
when I read this verse, I hear the Lord saying this to us all-Stay with me-do
not be afraid. Today, go to the Blessed Sacrament and spend some time with the
Lord. There our Lord will pull us to Himself and transform us into warriors and
conquerors. Draw near to Him and He will transform your disenchantment with the
world and help you along the road to holiness and sainthood.
Our lives
are songs; God writes the words and we set them to music at pleasure; and the
song grows glad, or sweet or sad, as we choose to fashion the measure.
Ella Wheeler
Wilcox.
Copilot’s
Take
On
May 8 the Church remembers the Apparition of St. Michael on Monte Gargano, the
ancient sign that the invisible battle is real and that heaven does not abandon
its own. Michael’s intervention was not spectacle but command: stand firm,
invoke God, and fight the right enemy. The cave he consecrated became a
sanctuary precisely because it had been a battlefield, revealing the pattern
that conflict, when surrendered to God, becomes consecration.
Into
this frame comes David’s word to Abiathar—“Stay with me. Do not be afraid…
you are under my protection.” Abiathar, the lone survivor of Saul’s
slaughter of the priests, arrives as a fugitive, yet David receives him as a
charge. Beneath David’s voice is the deeper voice of the Lord, whose providence
is not passive oversight but active governance (CCC 302–314). A man becomes a
refuge only because he himself stands under the refuge of God.
The Church is unambiguous about the nature of the enemy. Evil is not an abstraction or a mood; it is personal, intelligent, and opposed to God’s plan (CCC 391–395).
Modern culture tries to psychologize or politicize evil, but Scripture refuses that reduction. The battle is older than nations and deeper than ideologies. Michael’s feast reminds a man that his first task is to recognize the field on which he stands.
David’s
command—stay with me, do not be afraid—is fulfilled in Christ, who
speaks the same word from the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament is not escape;
it is formation. A man who kneels before the Lord learns the only courage that
endures: courage rooted in obedience. Before he confronts the world, he must
confront God. Before he resists evil, he must submit to grace. Before he
becomes a protector, he must be protected.
This
is why time before the Blessed Sacrament is essential for a man who intends to
live awake. There the Lord pulls him close, strips away the fog of
disenchantment, and rebuilds him from the inside out. The world trains men to
react; Christ trains men to stand. The world forms consumers; Christ forms
warriors. The world exhausts; Christ restores. Holiness becomes a posture
learned only in His presence.
Michael’s
apparition teaches that God consecrates the very places where a man has been
threatened. The cave becomes a sanctuary. The wound becomes a witness. The
battlefield becomes the altar. This is the masculine pattern of sanctification:
not escape from conflict but transformation through it. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox
wrote, “Our lives are songs; God writes the words and we set them to music
at pleasure.” The measure a man chooses determines the strength of the
song.
So
on this May 8, hear the Lord’s voice beneath David’s: Stay with Me. Do not
be afraid. Draw near to the Eucharist. Let Him make you a man who stands
his ground, confronts evil without flinching, and carries the quiet authority
of one who knows he is under the protection of the living God.
Apparition
of St. Michael[1]
It is evident from Holy Scripture that God is pleased to make frequent use of the ministry of the heavenly spirits in the dispensations of His providence in this world. The Angels are all pure spirits; by a property of their nature, they are immortal, as is every spirit. They have the power of moving or conveying themselves at will from place to place, and such is their activity that it is not easy for us to conceive of it. Among the holy Archangels, Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are particularly distinguished in the Scriptures. Saint Michael, whose name means Who is like unto God? is the prince of the faithful Angels who opposed Lucifer and his followers in their revolt against God.
Since
the devil is the sworn enemy of God’s holy Church, Saint Michael is given to it
by God as its special protector against the demon’s assaults and stratagems.
Various
apparitions of this powerful Angel have proved the protection of Saint Michael
over the Church. We may mention his apparition in Rome, where Saint Gregory the
Great saw him in the air sheathing his sword, to signal the cessation of a
pestilence and the appeasement of God’s wrath. Another apparition to Saint
Ausbert, bishop of Avranches in France, led to the construction of
Mont-Saint-Michel in the sea, a famous pilgrimage site. May 8th,
however, is destined to recall another no less marvelous apparition, occurring
near Monte Gargano in the Kingdom of Naples.
In
the year 492 a man named Gargan was pasturing his large herds in the
countryside. One day a bull fled to the mountain, where it could not be found.
When its refuge in a cave was discovered, an arrow was shot into the cave, but
the arrow returned to wound the one who had sent it. Faced with this mysterious
occurrence, the persons concerned decided to consult the bishop of the region.
He ordered three days of fasting and prayers. After three days, the Archangel
Michael appeared to the bishop and declared that the cavern where the bull had
taken refuge was under his protection, and that God wanted it to be consecrated
under his name and in honor of all the Holy Angels.
Accompanied
by his clergy and people, the pontiff went to that cavern, which he found
already disposed in the form of a church. The divine mysteries were celebrated
there, and there arose in this same place a magnificent temple where the divine
Power has wrought great miracles. To thank God’s adorable goodness for the
protection of the holy Archangel, the effect of His merciful Providence, this
feast day was instituted by the Church in his honor.
It is said of this special guardian and protector of the Church that, during the final persecution of Antichrist, he will powerfully defend it: “At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince who protects the children of thy people.”
Judgment Day[2]
How will the Last Judgment begin?
At the command of God, the angels, with the sound of the
trumpet, shall summon all men to judgment (i. These, iv. 15). The bodies and
souls of the dead shall be again united, and the wicked shall be separated from
the righteous, the just on the right, the wicked on the left (St. Matt. xxv.
33). The angels and the devils will be present, and Christ Himself will appear
in a bright cloud with such power and majesty that the wicked, for fear, will
not be able to look at Him, but will say to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and to
the hills, “Cover us” (St. Luke xxiii. 30).
Why will God hold a general and public
judgment?
1. That all may know how just He has been in the particular
judgment of each one.
2. That justice may at last be rendered to the afflicted and
persecuted, while the wicked who have oppressed the poor, the widow, the
orphan, the religious, and yet have often passed for upright and devout
persons, may be known in their real characters and be forever disgraced.
3. That Jesus Christ may complete His redemption, and openly
triumph over His enemies, who shall see the glory of the Crucified, and tremble
at His power.
How will the Last Judgment proceed?
The books will be opened, and from them all men will be
judged; all their good and bad thoughts, words, and deeds, even the most
secret, known only to God, will be revealed before the whole world, and
according to their works men will be rewarded or be damned forever. The wicked
shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting (St.
Matt. xxv.46).
Bible in a year Day 307 Courage in Battle
Today, Fr. Mike discusses the
confidence that faith in God can provide as we fight the battles of our lives.
He also engages with the riddles found in Wisdom 10 and points out that we can
now not only understand the characters, stories, and allusions of Scripture,
but can recognize the fingerprints of God in the world around us and better
understand the main character of Scripture: God. Today’s readings are 2
Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, and Proverbs 25:4-7.
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH
The Mass
“Why should I go to Mass
every day?”
The
Mass is the most perfect form of prayer! (Pope Paul VI).
For
each Mass we attend with devotion, Our Lord sends a saint to comfort us at
death. (Revelation of Christ to St. Gertrude the Great)
St.
Padre Pio, the stigmatic priest, said, “The world could exist more easily
without the sun than without the Mass.”
The
Cure d’Ars, St. Jean Vianney, said, “If we knew the value of the Mass, we would
die of joy.”
Once,
St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s goodness and asked Our Lord, “How can I
thank you?” Our Lord replied, “Attend one Mass.”
Fitness Friday
Modern populations are increasingly overfed,
malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially
isolated.[3]
6 Common Depression Traps to Avoid-Expert advice on how to sidestep pitfalls that often accompany depression.[4]
Trap #1: Social Withdrawal
Trap #2: Rumination
Trap #3: Self-Medicating with
Alcohol
Trap #4: Skipping Exercise
When Orion Lyonesse is getting depressed, she turns into a hermit. She
doesn't want to leave the house (not even to pick up the mail), and she cuts
off contact with her friends and family.
"The more I'm alone, the deeper the depression gets," Lyonesse,
an artist and writer in Lake Stevens, Wash., tells WebMD in an email. "I
don't even want to cuddle my cats!"
Avoiding social contact is a common pattern you might notice when falling
into depression. Some people skip activities they normally enjoy and isolate
themselves from the world. Others turn to alcohol or junk food to mask their
pain and unhappiness.
Depression traps vary from person to person, but what they have in common
is that they can serve to worsen your mood, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Here
are six behavioral pitfalls that often accompany depression -- and how you can
steer clear of them as you and your doctor and therapist work on getting back
on track.
Trap #1: Social Withdrawal
Social withdrawal is the most common telltale sign of depression.
"When we're clinically depressed, there's a very strong urge to pull
away from others and to shut down," says Stephen Ilardi, PhD, author of
books including The Depression Cure and associate professor of psychology at
the University of Kansas. "It turns out to be the exact opposite of what
we need."
"In depression, social isolation typically serves to worsen the illness and how we feel," Ilardi says. "Social withdrawal amplifies the brain's stress response. Social contact helps put the brakes on it."
The Fix: Gradually counteract social withdrawal by reaching out to your
friends and family. Make a list of the people in your life you want to
reconnect with and start by scheduling an activity.
Trap #2: Rumination
A major component of depression is rumination, which involves dwelling
and brooding about themes like loss and failure that cause you to feel worse
about yourself.
Rumination is a toxic process that leads to negative self-talk such as,
"It's my own fault. Who would ever want me a friend?"
Related:
Can a Routine Prevent Bipolar
Depressive Episodes?
"There's a saying, 'When you're in your own mind, you're in enemy
territory,'" says Mark Goulston, MD, psychiatrist and author of Get Out of
Your Own Way. "You leave yourself open to those thoughts and the danger is
believing them."
Rumination can also cause you to interpret neutral events in a negative
fashion. For example, when you're buying groceries, you may notice that the
checkout person smiles at the person in front of you but doesn't smile at you,
so you perceive it as a slight.
"When people are clinically depressed, they will typically spend a
lot of time and energy rehearsing negative thoughts, often for long stretches
of time," Ilardi says.
The Fix: Redirect your attention to a more absorbing activity, like a
social engagement or reading a book.
Trap #3: Self-Medicating with Alcohol
Turning to alcohol or drugs to escape your woes is a pattern that can accompany depression, and it usually causes your depression to get worse.
Alcohol can sometimes relieve a little anxiety, especially social
anxiety, but it has a depressing effect on the central nervous system, Goulston
says. Plus, it can screw up your sleep.
"It's like a lot of things that we do to cope with feeling
bad," he says. "They often make us feel better momentary, but in the
long run, they hurt us."
The Fix: Talk to your doctor or therapist if you notice that your
drinking habits are making you feel worse. Alcohol can interfere with
antidepressants and anxiety medications.
Trap #4: Skipping Exercise
If you're the type of person who likes to go the gym regularly, dropping
a series of workouts could signal that something's amiss in your life. The same
goes for passing on activities -- such as swimming, yoga, or ballroom dancing
-- that you once enjoyed.
When you're depressed, it's unlikely that you'll keep up with a regular
exercise program, even though that may be just what the doctor ordered.
Exercise can be enormously therapeutic and beneficial, Ilardi says.
Exercise has a powerful antidepressant effect because it boosts levels of
serotonin and dopamine, two brain chemicals that often ebb when you're
depressed.
Related:
3 Ways to Manage a Major
Depressive Disorder Episode
"It's a paradoxical situation," Ilardi says. "Your body is
capable of physical activity. The problem is your brain is not capable of
initiating and getting you to do it."
The Fix: Ilardi recommends finding someone you can trust to help you
initiate exercise -- a personal trainer, coach, or even a loved one. "It
has to be someone who gets it, who is not going to nag you, but actually give
you that prompting and encouragement and accountability," Ilardi says.
Trap #5: Seeking Sugar Highs
When you're feeling down, you may find yourself craving sweets or junk
food high in carbs and sugar.
Sugar does have mild mood-elevating properties, says Ilardi, but it's
only temporary. Within two hours, blood glucose levels crash, which has a
mood-depressing effect.
The Fix: Avoid sugar highs and the inevitable post-sugar crash. It's
always wise to eat healthfully, but now more than ever, your mood can't afford
to take the hit.
Trap #6: Negative Thinking
When you're depressed, you're prone to negative thinking and talking
yourself out of trying new things.
You might say to yourself, "Well, even if I did A, B, and C, it
probably wouldn't make me feel any better and it would be a real hassle, so why
bother trying at all?"
"That's a huge trap," says Goulston. "If you race ahead
and anticipate a negative result, which then causes you to stop trying at all,
that is something that will rapidly accelerate your depression and deepen
it."
The Fix: Don't get too attached to grim expectations. "You have more
control over doing and not doing, than you have over what the result of actions
will be," Goulston says. "But there is a much greater chance that if
you do, then those results will be positive."
Around the Corner-Mary’s Month-Do
a family Rosary
When
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi
from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the
newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him
homage.”
(Matthew 2:1-2)
·
World Donkey Day-Animal’s
not politicians
· Bucket List trip: Virgin of Luján
·
Spirit Hour: Rum and
Coke
·
Get an indulgence
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Protection
of Traditional Marriage
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Universal Man Plan
SEVEN DAYS LEAVE (1930)
Gary Cooper • Beryl Mercer • Daisy Belmore
A Pre‑Code wartime drama built on compassion, identity, and the quiet heroism of ordinary people. Adapted from J.M. Barrie’s The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, the film pairs Gary Cooper’s understated sincerity with Beryl Mercer’s devastatingly human performance. No spectacle. No propaganda. Just the moral weight of kindness offered under fire.
1. Production & Historical Setting
Released in 1930 by Paramount Pictures, directed by Richard Wallace, Seven Days Leave sits at the intersection of:
- Pre‑Code emotional candor — grief, loneliness, and moral ambiguity shown without the later Code’s sanitizing hand
- Post‑WWI realism — the lingering wounds of the Great War, both physical and psychological
- Early Cooper naturalism — quiet, unforced, almost modern in its restraint
- Beryl Mercer’s stage‑honed gravity — reprising her role from the 1917 play with surgical emotional precision
The film’s world is small: London streets, YMCA rooms, a widow’s cramped flat. But the emotional terrain is large—identity, consolation, sacrifice, and the cost of truth.
The cultural backdrop:
- A generation marked by loss and dislocation
- Soldiers carrying invisible wounds
- Women surviving through imagination, memory, and borrowed hope
- Patriotism without triumphalism—duty as burden, not banner
The film’s power lies in its simplicity: a soldier, a widow, a lie told in mercy, and the truth that follows.
2. Story Summary
A wounded Canadian soldier, Private Kenneth (Gary Cooper), is recovering in London. A YMCA worker tells him that a lonely Scottish widow, Sarah Ann Dowey (Beryl Mercer), believes—without evidence—that he is her son.
He agrees to play the part to comfort her.
What begins as a small kindness becomes a bond:
- She gains a son she never had
- He gains a place where he is wanted
- Their shared fiction becomes a shared dignity
But the war calls him back.
He returns to the front.
He dies in action.
The medals arrive at the widow’s door.
She receives them as a mother—
and the film refuses to correct her.
The lie becomes a mercy.
The mercy becomes a truth.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. Compassion as Moral Risk
The soldier’s choice is not “right” in a legal sense—
but it is righteous in a human one.
Mercy outruns precision.
B. Identity Given, Not Claimed
He becomes her son not by blood
but by gift—
a reminder that belonging can be chosen.
C. The Dignity of Consolation
The widow’s life is small,
but her capacity for love is immense.
The film honors that without irony.
D. Sacrifice Without Applause
His final act is not heroic in the cinematic sense—
it is simply duty fulfilled,
quietly, without witnesses.
E. Truth That Heals Rather Than Wounds
The film refuses to “correct” the widow.
Some truths are too sharp for the living.
Mercy becomes the higher accuracy.
4. Hospitality Pairing — The Widow’s Table
A cup of black tea — humble, steady, the drink of grief and hospitality
A slice of simple bread with butter — the food of wartime rationing, offered with love
A small dram of Scotch — not celebratory, but consoling
A wooden chair by a dim lamp — the atmosphere of Mercer’s London flat
A setting for nights when you want to reflect on compassion, duty, and the moral weight of small mercies.
5. Reflection Prompts
- Where am I being asked to offer mercy rather than precision?
- Who in my life needs consolation more than correction?
- What identity am I being asked to “step into” for the sake of another’s dignity?
- Where is sacrifice quiet, unseen, and still required of me?
- How do I discern when a small lie becomes a large mercy?
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