Thursday, May 14, 2026
Smoke in This Life and Not the Next
Thu, May 14 – Ascension of the Lord (Ascension Thursday)
Virtue: Glory & Mission
Cigar: Candela — bright, lifted, green‑gold
Bourbon: Angel’s Envy — elegant, radiant
Reflection: “Where am I sent with joy?”
The Devotion
The Ascension is not Christ’s departure.
It is His elevation of the human race.
He rises so that man may rise.
He ascends so that mission may descend.
He enters glory so that glory may enter the world.
A Candela belongs to this day—
bright, spring‑colored, almost weightless,
a leaf that refuses heaviness.
Angel’s Envy follows it:
refined, luminous, touched by light.
Together they teach the truth of the feast:
mission is not burden; it is buoyancy.
A man sent by Heaven is carried more than he carries.
And into this upward mystery steps the soul of Leonarde Collin.
When she returned to Hugette in the evening,
she no longer hid herself:
“Know, my dear niece, that I am your aunt…
Thanks to the Divine bounty, I am saved…
The Blessed Virgin obtained for me perfect contrition…
I am permitted to finish my expiation by serving you for fourteen days.”
Her story is the Ascension in miniature:
a soul lifted by mercy,
a soul purified through service,
a soul whose final ascent depends on charity freely given.
Three pilgrimages to three Marian sanctuaries—
not as payment,
but as participation in her rising.
Glory received becomes mission given.
This is the law of Heaven.
Today asks:
Where is Christ lifting me?
Where am I resisting the upward pull?
Where is mission waiting for my joy?
The Ascension is not escape.
It is sending.
Christ rises so that His disciples may go.
The Purgatory Line
A soul once confessed:
“I was nearly lost because I lived without mission.
I received grace but never carried it outward.”
Not hatred.
Not rebellion.
Not scandal.
Neglect.
A life without ascent.
A heart that never rose to meet the work Heaven entrusted.
Leonarde’s fourteen days of service
were the final purification of a soul
that had once lived too small.
Purgatory is often the long correction
of every place we refused to rise
when Heaven called us upward.
The Cigar & Bourbon
Candela — bright, lifted.
A wrapper the color of new life,
a leaf that smokes like a green flame,
teaching the soul to rise.
Angel’s Envy — elegant, radiant.
A bourbon touched by light,
the taste of ascent without arrogance,
glory without weight.
Together they form a discipline of mission—
the willingness to be carried upward
and then sent outward.
The Question for the Night Smoke
“Where am I sent with joy?”
Not:
“What must I endure?”
but
“What glory is Christ inviting me to carry into the world?”
Let the smoke rise like the path of the Ascension—
a thin, bright column
teaching your soul how to rise.
MAY 14 Thursday-The Ascension of the Lord
Feast of
Saint Matthias-Novena St. Rita-Yom
Haazmaut-Chicken Dance
1 Samuel, Chapter 28, Verse 5
When Saul saw the
Philistine camp, he grew AFRAID and
lost heart completely.
Are
we like Saul?
Have
we lost heart completely?
Have
we seen the camps of our enemies and come to despair?
God will not abandon us like we have abandoned him. Do
not despair but call out to the Lord and listen. Pay attention and if today you
hear His voice harden, not your heart.
Comparing
David with Saul, the one thing that distinguished them from each other was
David’s humility and confidence in the Lord.
This we can see in David’s Psalm 23.
The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In
green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores
my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you
are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in
front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed,
goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the
house of the LORD for endless days.
Copilot’s Take
Saul’s terror before the
Philistine camp exposes the spiritual truth the Catechism names plainly: fear
becomes destructive when it grows from a heart no longer anchored in God. Saul
does not simply tremble at an enemy; he trembles because he has forgotten the
One who once made him king. The CCC calls this interior collapse acedia—a
sadness that drains courage and hollows out the will. When a man stops
listening to God, every threat looks final, every enemy looks larger than life,
and every valley looks like the end.
David stands as the opposite
kind of man. His strength is not natural boldness but humility—what the
Catechism calls the foundation of all prayer. David knows he is small, and that
is precisely why he is fearless. Psalm 23 is not a pastoral lullaby; it is the
creed of a warrior who has learned to walk through darkness with the Shepherd
at his side. “You are with me” is the line Saul could no longer say. It is the
line that makes the valley survivable.
The Church teaches that evil
remains active in every age, not as myth but as a real distortion of human
freedom and a real assault on the good. Today the enemy’s camp rarely looks
like Philistine tents; it looks like despair, cynicism, spiritual numbness, and
the quiet pressure to abandon truth. The devil’s strategy is unchanged: make
God’s people forget who leads them. When we lose that memory, we become
Saul—overwhelmed by shadows that were never stronger than God.
Yet the Christian is called to confront evil with David’s posture, not Saul’s collapse.
The CCC urges us to trust divine providence, resist temptation, and keep the heart soft before God’s voice. Courage is not the absence of danger but the refusal to interpret danger without God. The Shepherd does not promise the absence of enemies; He promises a table set in their presence. He does not promise an easy path; He promises His rod and staff along the way.
If we have lost heart, it is
not because God has abandoned us. It is because we have stopped listening. The
remedy is the same today as it was for David: return to the Shepherd, let Him
restore the soul, and walk the valley with the confidence that goodness and
mercy still pursue us. The camps of the enemy remain, but so does the God who
leads His people through them.
Feast of the
Ascension[1]
Forty days after Easter, our Lord ascends into heaven. The Paschal candle is extinguished.
AT
the Introit of the Mass the Church sings the words spoken by the angels to the
apostles when Jesus ascended to heaven: “Ye men of Galilee, why wonder ye,
looking up to heaven? Alleluia. He shall so come as you have seen Him going up
into heaven, alleluia! alleluia! alleluia! Oh, clap your hands, all ye nations,
shout unto God with the voice of joy.”
Prayer.
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who believe that Thy only
begotten Son, our Redeemer, ascended this day into heaven, may ourselves also,
in mind, dwell in heavenly things.
EPISTLE. Acts i.
1-11.
The
former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do and
to teach until the day on which, giving commandments by the Holy Ghost to the
apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up: to whom also He showed Himself
alive after His passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them, and
speaking of the kingdom of God. And eating together with them, He commanded
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the
promise of the Father, which you have heard, saith He, by my mouth: for John,
indeed, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not
many days hence. They therefore who were come together asked Him, saying:
Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
But He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or
moments which the Father hath put in His own power. But you shall receive the
power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the
earth. And when He had said these things, while they looked on, He was raised
up: and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they were beholding
Him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments, who
also said:
Ye
men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven?
This Jesus Who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come as you have seen Him going into heaven.
Explanation.
For
forty days after His resurrection, Jesus remained with His disciples, to
convince them of the truth of His resurrection, to teach them in regard to His
kingdom, that is, His Church, and their vocation; and as they were still
thinking of an earthly kingdom to be established by Christ, He referred them to
the instruction of the Holy Ghost, and then ascended to heaven, whence He shall
come to be our judge. Rejoice over the instructions which are preserved for you
through the Church; but rejoice especially that Jesus has taken possession of
the glory gained by His most profound humiliations, for now He is there an
intercessor for you; there He prepares for you a mansion; there is now your
home. To-day look up to heaven where Christ is, hope, suffer, love, and pray.
GOSPEL. Mark xvi.
14-20.
At that time, as the eleven were at table, Jesus appeared to them and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart: because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again. And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe:
In My name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed. “Let us ‘says St. Augustine, “in spirit, ascend with Christ, that when the time comes, we may follow Him in body also. But we must know, dear brethren, that neither pride, nor avarice, nor impurity can ascend with Christ, our Lord, for pride does not keep company with the teacher of humility, nor wickedness with the source of all good, nor impurity with the Son of the Virgin.”
Aspiration.
O
King of glory! Who didst on this day ascend victoriously above the heavens,
leave us not orphans, but send us, from the Father, the Spirit of truth Whom
Thou hast promised, and receive us all into Thy glory.
Why, on this day, is the Easter-candle
extinguished and carried away after the gospel?
It is done in remembrance of the hour in which Christ, Who is
typified by the Easter-candle, left this earth.
Ascension
Thursday Customs[2]
Ascension Plays
In the early centuries the Church celebrated the Feast of the Ascension with elaborate processions that imitated Christ's conducting His Apostles to Bethany (Lk. 24.50). Eventually, however, these liturgical processions became nonliturgical pageants, and the pageants, in turn, became plays. Ascension Thursday was a day for special effects. This could happen in a dignified way during the Mass, as when in Germany the priest would lift a crucifix during the Gospel at the words, "He was taken up into heaven," or it could happen in a dramatic way after Mass with a theatrical representation of the Ascension event. Statues of the risen Christ would be hoisted by pulleys into the air and then either concealed by white silk representing clouds or pulled through an opening in the ceiling. The audience would then be showered with roses, lilies, and wafers. The flowers symbolized the various gifts of the Holy Spirit promised by Christ before He left, while the wafers reminded all that Jesus is still present to us in the Blessed Sacrament.
Like any other solemnity, Ascension Thursday is supposed to be a day of rest and liberal leisure. For some reason or another, however, traditional folklore treats this observance for today with particular severity. Popular superstitions warned against working in field or garden, and special punishments were purportedly reserved for women who sewed. Any needle, it was thought, that was used for work on Ascension Thursday would soon attract lightning!
Ascension commemorates the day that Jesus ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:1-11) after spending 40 days appearing to his disciples after his resurrection. The disciple’s thought Jesus was going to restore the earth to the Kingdom of Heaven, but instead, as he promised to send the Holy Spirit to give them power, he ascended into Heaven and disappeared in a cloud. Ascension is the 40th day after Easter, celebrated on the sixth Sunday of the Easter season in Protestant churches and on the 40th day after Easter in Roman Catholic churches.
· The Apostle's Creed, one of the statements of faith in the Christian Church, mentions Jesus' ascension:
·
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. The third day he rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty.
·
An ancient custom in England, called the Beating
of the Bounds, is often performed on or near Ascension. Before maps, this
was the day that people would mark the boundaries of their property with stones
marked with chalk. Some English churches still perform the custom, led by
the vicar. Church members carry sticks to wick at weeds as they process.
·
In the Orthodox tradition, celebration of the
Jesus' Ascension starts with an all-night vigil or vespers (evening) service
beginning on Saturday.
· Johann Sebastian Bach wrote several pieces related to both Easter and the Ascension. Listen to Bach's the Ascension Oratorio, Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Praise God in His Kingdoms) on YouTube.
·
Go bird watching. A custom in Sweden, is
to get up early in the morning of Ascension and venture out into the woods to
listen for the call of a cuckoo. It is considered good luck to hear one
on this holiday.
·
Go to church and learn about why Jesus'
ascension is important to the Christian faith. Jesus is considered to be
both human and divine, and the ascension is an illustration of Christ's divine
nature.
·
View paintings that depict the ascension.
One of the most famous works is The Ascension of Christ by
Rembrandt Van Rijn.
·
Have a picnic.
Chinese Chicken Salad
(It is traditional to eat some
sort of bird since Jesus "flew" to heaven.)
Strawberries
(The fruit represents Christ,
the first fruit of all men.)
Cream Puffs
(Symbolizing the clouds that
were in the sky.)
Sparkling Grape Juice
(Chosen for the
"rising" bubbles.)
Preparing for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit[4]
On
Ascension Day the Lumen Christi is taken from the dining room
table to signify that the Lord has ascended. In the days when the Faith was
flourishing, the Sunday after the feast of the Ascension was called "The
Sunday of the Roses," the name given from the custom of strewing the
pavements of the churches with roses, as an homage to Christ who ascended into
heaven when the earth was in the season of flowers. Why cannot we in our day
have roses in our homes, make an offering of flowers to our church, or take
roses from our gardens to one infirm or sick?
Here
are some prayers and meditations to be said in the family between the Ascension
and Pentecost Sunday.
One
of the simplest ways we have found for young children to prepare for Pentecost
is by meditating on the mysteries of the Chaplet of the Holy Spirit. We reflect
on one mystery a day.
Opening Prayer: Sign of the
Cross-Act of Contrition
First Mystery: Jesus is conceived by the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary.
Meditation: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and
the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore, the Holy One to be
born shall be called the Son of God (Luke 11:35).
Prayers: One Our Father and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Second Mystery: The Spirit of the Lord rests upon Jesus.
Meditation: When Jesus was baptized, He immediately
came up from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw
the Spirit of God descending as a Dove and coming upon Him (Matthew 3:16).
Prayers: One Our Father and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Third Mystery: Jesus is led by the Spirit into the
desert.
Meditation: Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit about the desert for forty
days, being tempted the while by the devil (Luke 4:11). Prayers: One Our Father
and Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Fourth Mystery: The Holy Spirit in the Church.
Meditation: Suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a violent wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak of
the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:2, 4, 11). Prayers: One Our Father and Hail
Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Fifth Mystery: The Holy Spirit in the souls of the
Just.
Meditation: Or, do you not know that your members are
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Do not extinguish the Spirit. And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption (1 Cor. 6:19; 1 Thess. 5:19; Eph. 4:30).
Prayers: One Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary; seven Glory be to the Father.
Devotions for Holy Communion[5]
HOW WE
OUGHT TO COMMUNICATE.
PREPARE yourself for holy communion the evening before by many thoughts of love, retiring earlier, that you may rise sooner in the morning. Should you awake in the night, raise your heart to God immediately, and make some ardent aspirations, in order to prepare your soul for the reception of her Spouse, Who, being awake whilst you were asleep, prepares a thousand graces and favors for you, if, on your part, you are disposed to receive them.
In the
morning, rise up with eagerness to enjoy the happiness you hope for; and having
confessed, go with a great but humble confidence to receive this heavenly food,
which nourishes your soul to immortality: and after repeating thrice, “Lord, I
am not worthy,” cease to move your lips to pray, or to sigh, but opening your
mouth gently and moderately, and lifting up your head as much as is necessary,
that the priest may see what he is about, full of faith, hope, and charity,
receive Him, in Whom, by Whom, and for Whom you believe, hope, and Whom you
love. Represent to yourself that as the bee, after gathering from the flowers
the dew of heaven, and the choicest juice of the earth, reducing them into
honey, carries it into her hive, so the priest, having taken from the altar the
Savior of the world, the true Son of God, Who, as the dew, is descended from
heaven, and the true Son of the Virgin, Who, as a flower, is sprung from the
earth of our humanity, puts Him as delicious food into your mouth and body.
Having
received Him in your breast, excite your heart to do homage to the author of
your salvation; treat with Him concerning your internal affairs; consider that
He has taken up His abode within you for your happiness; make Him then as
welcome as you possibly can, and conduct yourself in such a manner as to make it
appear by all your actions that God is with you.
But
when you cannot enjoy the benefit of really communicating at holy Mass, communicate at least spiritually, uniting yourself by an ardent
desire to this life-giving flesh of Our Savior. Your principal intention in
communicating should be to advance in virtue, to strengthen yourself in the
love of God, and to receive comfort from this love; for you must receive
through love that which love alone caused to be given to you. You cannot
consider Our Savior in an action either more full of love, or more tender than
this, in which He annihilates Himself, or, as we may more properly say, changes
Himself into food, that so He may penetrate our souls, and unite Himself most
intimately to the heart, and to the body of His faithful.
If worldlings ask you why you communicate so often, tell them it is to learn to love God, to purify yourself from your imperfections, to be delivered from your miseries, to be comforted in your afflictions, and supported in your weaknesses.
Tell
them that two sorts of persons ought to communicate frequently: the perfect,
because, being well disposed, they would be greatly to blame not to approach to
the source and fountain of perfection; and the imperfect, to the end that they
may be able to aspire to perfection; the strong, lest they should become weak;
and the weak, that they may become strong; the healthy, lest they should fall
into sickness; and the sick, that they may be restored to health: that for your
part, being imperfect, weak, and sick, you have need to communicate frequently
with Him Who is your perfection, your strength, and your physician.
Tell
them that those who have not many worldly affairs to look after ought to
communicate often, because they have leisure; that those who have much business
on hand should also communicate often, for he who labors much and is loaded
with toil ought to eat solid food, and that frequently.
Tell
them that you receive the Holy Sacrament, to learn to receive it well; because
one can hardly perform an action well which he does not often practice. Communicate
frequently, then, and as frequently as you can, with the advice of your ghostly
father; and, believe me, by approaching to and eating beauty, purity, and
goodness itself, in this divine sacrament, you will become altogether fair,
pure, and virtuous.
Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle
OF[7]
this apostle nothing certain is known beyond what is contained in the epistle.
In the Introit of the Mass the Church sings: “To me Thy friends, O God, are
made exceedingly honorable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me; Thou hast known my sitting down and my
rising up.”
Prayer.
O God, Who didst associate blessed Matthias to the company of the apostles,
grant, we beseech Thee, that, by his intercession, we may ever experience Thy
tender mercy towards us.
Prayer to St. Matthias. O St. Matthias, glorious apostle and martyr of Jesus Christ, who, by the special providence of God, wast added to the eleven apostles in the room of the traitor, I humbly beseech thee to obtain for us the grace of Him Who chose thee from all eternity, that, assisted thereby, we may, after thy example, keep the commandments of God, practice good works, and thus merit to be numbered with the elect. Amen.
Novena of St. Rita[8]
This novena prayer, although short, is sufficient. It
would be better of course to add, if time permits, three Hail Mary’s or say
five times the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father, or to use some
of the many well-loved novena prayers from other sources. Remember that prayers
must be said with your lips in order to gain the indulgences. This novena
begins on May 14 and ends on May 22. Rita is the patron of the impossible.
Prayer: O glorious St. Rita! You who so wonderfully
participated in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for me the grace
to suffer with patience the pains of this life and protect me in all my needs.
Apostolic
Exhortation[9]
Veneremur Cernui
– Down in Adoration Falling
of
The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix,
to Priests, Deacons, Religious and the Lay Faithful of the Diocese of Phoenix
on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist
My beloved Brothers and
Sisters in Christ,
1. I wish to speak to you about the most important and central teaching of our faith. What I share is “not too high for you.” It is not theology that is only meant for theologians and priests. This concerns the most important reality of our lives – the saving presence of our Lord. This is not a teaching that can be dumbed down or over simplified. This is a truth that we need to be clear and certain about. Be bold, then! Take up and read, drink in the truth, discuss and share it with others and allow Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, to conform you further to Himself and fulfill the deepest longings of your heart.
2.
From the time I was a little child, I knew Jesus was present in every Catholic
Church. I could not have explained it, but I was certain He was there. The way
my father genuflected before the Tabernacle, the quiet reverence of my mother,
the way our pastor Father Daly sang the Tantum Ergo with such gusto and
a thick Irish brogue, it was these actions and God’s grace, more than words,
that imbedded in my heart a solid conviction about the real presence of Jesus
in the Eucharist. And because our farm family prayed together every evening,
during thunderstorms or blizzards, whether we had a bumper crop or hardly
anything at all from drought-stricken soil, no matter what, we knew that the
Lord Jesus we received at Mass was with us, every day and night, and that whatever
we faced, all would be well because of Him.
3.
Of course, that faith in the Eucharist has been tested many times over the
years. As a seminarian in Tours, France, for example, during two months of
intensive French language study, some classmates learning of my practice of
daily Mass accosted me, sneering with venom, “You really believe Jesus is
present in that piece of bread?” Shocked by their hate-filled tone, I could say
nothing for what seemed like eternity; but after probably less than a minute, I
managed to stammer, “Yes… I do.” That shocking and embarrassing moment, to my
surprise, led ever so gradually to new gratitude for the gift of the
Eucharistic faith and a deeper conviction about daily Mass and Eucharistic
adoration. It also taught me to expect my faith in our Eucharistic Savior to
face scorn and contradiction.
4.
I invite you in this Exhortation to “put out into the deep” (Lk 5:4).
Whether your faith in the Eucharist is strong or weak, whether you consider the
Church your Home or you have recently decided to disassociate, or even if you
have no faith at all, my sincere hope is that a true “Eucharistic amazement”
will be ignited within you.
5. The People of Israel faced many obstacles, challenges, and sufferings as they crossed the desert and entered the Promised Land.
But God had assured them of His presence and guidance on their arduous sojourn. In the Ark of the Covenant, they recognized the presence of God. Into battles and in dangerous lands, wherever the Israelites went, the Ark went with them because it assured them that God would be with them to fight their battles, to care for them and protect them. For this reason, the Ark became a powerful and enduring image of God’s presence.
6.
When the People of Israel were preparing to cross the Jordan river and enter
the Promised Land, Joshua stressed the importance of following the Ark:
“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord being carried, you are to set
out from your positions and follow it… so that you can see the way to go, since
we have never been this way before” (Josh. 3:2-4). This instruction was
addressed to a people who would face the dangers of the crossing and the
challenges and threats that awaited them in an unknown land.
To be continued…
Bible in a
year Day 313 The
Ark of the New Covenant
As we begin reading the Gospel of Luke, Fr. Mike
draws our attention to Mary. He clarifies the difference between Zechariah's
response and Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, and also explains why Mary
is the Ark of the new Covenant. We learn that through Mary, God begins to
fulfill his promises to the people of Israel. Today's readings are Luke 1-2,
and Proverbs 25:24-26.
Israel Independence Day
Yom Haazmaut (Hebrew: יום העצמאות) is Israel's Independence Day. Israel declared independence on May 14th, 1948. This was only a few hours before the British Mandate of Palestine was to draw to an end. Yom Haazmaut is a public holiday in Israel. All commercial establishments are closed, apart from Restaurants, Cafes and Bars. Israelis celebrate Yom Haazmaut with an opening ceremony, comprising lighting of the Masuot (twelve torches, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel). The honor of lighting each torch is given to outstanding Israelis, such as brave soldiers and policemen, scientists, artists, senior citizens and the like. Yom Haazmaut always occurs the day after Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day to honor fallen soldiers and soldier victims of terrorists). There are typically firework displays at night, airplane displays and bands during the day. Israeli citizens spend Yom Haazmaut with family and friends, often in a Park, on a beach or at home. The Israel Prize is given in scientific fields to notable scientists, artists and people who made a lifetime contribution to the State of Israel.
Yom HaAtzma'ut (Israel) Facts & Quotes
· Many Jewish prophets in the Bible prophesied that the Children of Israel would return to their land. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zachariah made notable prophecies. For example, Jeremiah 29:10. This is what the Lord says: 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place'.
·
In
the 19th century, Theodor (Benjamin Zeev) Herzl was the visionary of the State
of Israel in his book Altneuland, 'The Old New Land' in 1902.
Tel Aviv (old hill/ new spring) was established in 1909.
·
According
to Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and many others in the Religious Zionist camp, the
founding of the State of Israel was considered to be Atchalta DeGeulah the
beginning of the final redemption.
·
In
the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98a) it is stated by Rav Aba Ein lecha meg'uleh mizu,
there is no greater indication of the end of days than that which the prophet
Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:8) prophesizes, Now mountains of Israel, your branches
shall come forth and your fruit will be offered to my people Israel.
·
The
return of Jews to the Holy Land was also mentioned by Isaiah: On that day (the
day of the redemption) a great shofar will be sounded, and those who are lost
in the land of Ashur (Assyria) and those who are dispersed in the Land of Egypt
will return to the Holy Land. (Isaiah 27:13).
Yom HaAtzma'ut (Israel) Top Events and Things to Do
· Attend a Yom Haazmaut Party,
held at many local Israeli/Jewish Communities on the Eve of Yom Haazmaut. Typically, Israeli food is served, followed by a fireworks display. A live broadcast of the Yom Haazmaut ceremony from Har Herzl, Jerusalem may be watched and culminates in the singing of the Hatikvah, the Israeli National Anthem.
·
Attend
a lecture on the connection between Jews, Israel and the Bible. Yeshivah
University holds many public lectures on this topic.
·
Attend
a Yom Haazmaut Concert. There are many venues for Yom Haazmaut concerts
including popular ones at New York City and Stamford (CT).
·
Take
part or view the Bible Quiz (Chidon Hatanach)
Chicken Dance Day[10]
We’ve all seen it, it’s
utterly ridiculous and usually performed in a bout of intoxicant driven lunacy.
You tuck your hands into your armpits to make ‘wings’, and then you flap like
an idiot in time with some particularly unfortunate music. All that aside,
you’re having complete giggle fits with a bunch of your friends while you
behave in a fashion that has the local sanitarium eyeballing you for
membership. What are we talking about? The Chicken Dance of course! Chicken
Dance Day commemorates this dance and its origins, and even gives you a chance
to learn WHY anyone would do this terrible, terrible thing.
History of
Chicken Dance Day
“Der Ententanz” was the name of the song that inspired all of this, and while the dance has come to be called “The Chicken Dance”, the song itself is called The Duck Dance. At least that was its original name, and now it has spread all over the world, undergoing multiple name changes in the process. It has been known as everything from The Little Bird Dance to De Vogeltjesdans, or “The dance of the little birds.” This rendition was actually the B-Side of a single released by a band called “De Electornica’s”. The A-Side simply wasn’t being well received by the radio station’s audiences, so they flipped it over. At that moment, history was made, and it rocketed to the Dutch charts and stayed there for nearly a year. So much has its popularity exploded that it has been recorded in no less than 140 versions with over 40,000,000 records published over its lifetime. In 1981 the dance brought to Oktoberfest in the United States, and due to a complete lack of duck costumes anywhere near the event, they had to settle for chicken costumes instead.
The result of which is the name by which it is now known. The song responsible gets new covers done almost every year, with new lyrics added all the time. That’s right, there’s lyrics. You’re welcome.
How to
Celebrate Chicken Dance Day
Do we need to say it?
The
best way to celebrate Chicken Dance Day is by getting out there and doing the
Chicken Dance! It’s quite simple, and it all starts with making a beak with
your hands, and ‘squawk’ them four times in beat with the music, then you make
wings as described earlier, and flap them four times in time with the music.
Then… ya know what? Just watch this: How to Chicken Dance.
Armed Forces Day Build Up
US Air Force[1]
Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps. The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America — white America, anyway. (African Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.
Around the Corner Try Cheese Blintzes
After
their audience with the king, they set out. And behold, the star that they had
seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place
where the child was. (Matthew 2:9)
§ Bucket
List Trip: The
Holy Land
§ Spirit
hour: White Wine Spritzer
See Dinosaurs an Immersive Experience
·
At
Dino
Safari you can dig up fossils, learn about cutting-edge research, take a
turn on the Sauropod Slide, see many varieties of animatronic dinosaurs, and
enjoy thrilling virtual reality and other exciting activities to immerse the
whole family in the age of dinosaurs.
Mary’s Month-Do
a family Rosary
o
Note from Rachel: When I was but a child, I
suffered a grand-mal seizure that nearly killed me. I was diagnosed with a
brain tumor. My Dad immediately called Father Paul Wolff who was General
Patton's Belgian Guide and asked for prays at the shrine of our Lady of Beauraing.
A week later the brain tumor disappeared and there was still a small scar left
on a portion of my brain, and I continued to have seizures, but medicine kept
it under control for many years. Eventually through the work of a doctor I
received a world class surgical procedure that completely healed me of
seizures, from the world-famous Barrow Neurological Institute. Today I work
there.
· do a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
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. According to Mary Agreda[11]
in her visions it was on a Thursday at six o'clock in the evening and at the
approach of night that the Angel Gabriel approached and announced her as Mother
of God and she gave her fiat.
Dinner Menu
Best Places to Visit in May
Michigan[12]
is home to a long winter, but when May rolls around, it is the height of the
spring season and considered the start of summer. Tourists and locals alike
emerge to enjoy the climbing temperatures and wealth of events in May
in Michigan.
No matter what you’re
interested in, there is something for everyone to do. Check out one of these
amazing events and activities during your next trip to Michigan
in spring.
Attend a Spring
Festival
Festivals of all kinds are
held throughout May in Michigan — from the Tulip Time Festival in
Holland to the annual Food Truck
Festival in Frankenmuth. As the weather warms up and the flowers
begin to bloom, it is the perfect time to enjoy a community event.
Many of these festivals take place in the vicinity of the lakes, but you will find spring festivals going on all over Michigan.
Whether you are interested in local food, cultural events, holiday celebrations, or musical performances, you can find it all.
Pure Michigan Dinner
Menu[13]
- Wolverinetini
- Michigan Cherry Salad
- Country Ribs Dinner
- Grilled Sweet Corn
- Apple Cranberry Slab Pie
Religion in the Home for
Preschool: May
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Catholic Politian’s and Leaders
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Make
reparations to the Holy Face
·
Rosary
[1]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[5] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Matthias
[7] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[11] Venerable Mary of Agreda. The Mystical City of God:
Complete Edition Containing all Four Volumes with Illustrations (p. 770).
Veritatis Splendor Publications. Kindle Edition
TRY AND GET ME! (1950)
Frank Lovejoy • Lloyd Bridges • Kathleen Ryan
(Released originally as The Sound of Fury)
A blistering social‑conscience noir where unemployment, pride, and mob violence collide in a California town that believes it is righteous even as it descends into savagery. Directed by Cy Endfield—soon to be blacklisted—the film is a howl against collective sin, media hysteria, and the terrifying speed with which ordinary men become executioners.
Frank Lovejoy gives one of noir’s most heartbreaking performances as a decent man crushed by desperation. Lloyd Bridges is electric and feral, a charming sociopath whose recklessness ignites the tragedy. And the town—self‑assured, moralistic, and easily manipulated—becomes the true villain.
1. Production & Historical Setting
Released in 1950, Try and Get Me! stands at the intersection of:
Post‑war American disillusionment
The war is over, prosperity is rising, but working‑class men are being left behind. Howard Tyler is one of them—jobless, ashamed, and vulnerable to the first man who offers him a way out.
The blacklist era
Director Cy Endfield was driven out of Hollywood soon after this film.
You can feel the urgency of a man who knows the walls are closing in.
The rise of social‑issue noir
This is noir not about private sin but public guilt—a community that believes itself moral while committing atrocities.
Media sensationalism as a new American power
The film anticipates the modern news cycle:
crime → outrage → spectacle → violence.
The working‑class tragedy
Howard Tyler is not a gangster, not a drifter, not a femme‑fatale’s victim.
He is a husband and father who cannot find work.
His downfall is the noir of economic humiliation.
The world is small: grocery stores, gas stations, cheap apartments, bowling alleys, and the sun‑blasted California streets where men pretend everything is fine.
But the moral terrain is enormous—
fear, pride, mob justice, cowardice, and the terrifying ease with which a community abandons its conscience.
The cultural backdrop:
- The anxiety of men unable to provide for their families
- The seductive danger of charismatic evil
- The press as both storyteller and arsonist
- The illusion that “good people” cannot commit atrocities
- The American belief that justice is swift, righteous, and ours to administer
The film’s power lies in its contrasts:
Lovejoy’s wounded decency, Bridges’ reckless magnetism, the town’s self‑righteous fury, and a justice system too weak to withstand the crowd.
2. Story Summary
Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy)
A good man under pressure.
Unemployed, ashamed, desperate to support his wife and child.
He meets:
Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges)
Handsome. Charming. Amoral.
A small‑time criminal who lives for thrills and attention.
He recruits Howard into petty robberies—easy money, no blood.
Until the night everything changes.
A kidnapping.
A ransom.
A panicked moment.
A murder.
Howard is horrified.
Jerry is exhilarated.
The press seizes the story.
The town erupts.
Fear becomes anger.
Anger becomes righteousness.
Righteousness becomes a mob.
Howard and Jerry are arrested.
But the town does not want justice.
It wants blood.
The final act is one of the most harrowing sequences in noir:
a mob storming the jail,
a sheriff overwhelmed,
a community convinced it is doing God’s work
as it commits murder.
Howard dies begging for mercy.
Jerry dies screaming.
The town congratulates itself.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. The Sin of Desperation
Howard’s fall is not malice—it is weakness.
The film exposes how poverty can deform a man’s judgment long before it touches his soul.
B. The Seduction of Charisma
Jerry is not brilliant.
He is simply bold.
And boldness, in a world of frightened men, becomes leadership.
C. The Mob as the Face of Collective Sin
No one person kills Howard.
Everyone does.
The crowd becomes a single organism—self‑righteous, blind, and violent.
D. Media as Moral Accelerant
A reporter turns a tragedy into a spectacle.
The film shows how storytelling can become a weapon.
E. Justice Without Mercy
The town believes it is defending morality.
In truth, it is destroying it.
The film is a warning:
Communities can commit evil with a clean conscience
if they mistake outrage for righteousness.
4. Hospitality Pairing — The California Heat Spread
A pour of Old Grand‑Dad Bonded — hot, sharp, working‑class bourbon with no illusions.
A Broadleaf Maduro cigar — dark, heavy, smoke that clings like guilt.
Salted peanuts — the food of bowling alleys and late‑night bars where desperate men make bad decisions.
A worn newspaper — the symbol of how stories become weapons.
A setting for nights when you want to reflect on fear, pride, and the terrifying speed with which ordinary men become part of a mob.
5. Reflection Prompts
- Where in my life am I vulnerable to bad leadership because of fear or pressure.
- What compromises have I justified in the name of providing or surviving.
- When have I joined a “crowd” instead of standing alone for what is right.
- Where have I allowed outrage to replace discernment.
- What part of my conscience needs strengthening before the next moment of pressure arrives.
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