Friday, June 26, 2026
Corvette to Work day-Another Joe Biden special
June 26 — Day 3 of the Nine Days
The Wilderness as Testing
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.”
The wilderness is not punishment.
It is the proving ground of sons.
Here, comfort is gone.
Here, the appetites speak loudly.
Here, the enemy whispers shortcuts and half‑truths.
But the wilderness is where obedience becomes real.
Where strength becomes interior.
Where a man learns to prefer God’s will over his own.
If Day 1 is the Voice,
If Day 2 is the Furnace,
Day 3 is the Test.
A nation cannot mature without testing.
Prosperity has softened us; abundance has distracted us.
The wilderness strips us back to dependence —
and dependence is the beginning of wisdom.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, lead me into the wilderness You choose.
Test what must be tested, and make my obedience whole.
Do the same for my country.
SMOKE IN THIS LIFE, NOT THE NEXT
Thu, June 26 — Sobriety of Soul
Virtue — Sobriety of Soul
Cigar — A thin, no‑name stick that burns fast and honest
Pour — Half a glass of rough red
Reflection
Bellarmine saw the sickness of his age — men who joked about judgment and gambled with eternity. His answer was blunt: witnesses have returned, and their testimony burns.
Christina the Astonishing is one of them. A woman who walked through fire because she had seen what waits for the careless. Modern men dismiss her because she makes comfort impossible.
Tonight’s cheap wine and cheap cigar fit the lesson. Nothing to dull the senses. Nothing to hide behind. Just the truth: the fires of Purgatory are mercy at full heat, and they will finish what we refuse to start.
Purgatory Line
The fire you ignore now is the fire that will not ignore you later.
Reflection Question
Where am I still betting that God’s mercy will cost me nothing?
JUNE 26 Friday Fourth Week of Pentecost
St.
Jose Escriva-Get
Off Drugs Day-Canoe Day
Mark, Chapter 5, Verse 15:
Perhaps St. Jude refers to a type of Holy fear we have when we witness the greatness of God as mention in this verse. “On those who waver, have mercy; save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23)
Copilot:
Mark 5 is
rich with dramatic encounters—demonic possession, chronic illness, and even
death—and through each, fear plays a pivotal role. From a Catholic perspective,
here are the key lessons about fear in this chapter:
Fear
reveals our need for faith – When Jairus hears his daughter has died, Jesus
tells him, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36). This moment
captures a central Catholic teaching: fear is natural, but it must be
transformed by faith and trust in God’s power.
Fear can
be healed by encounter with Christ – The woman with the hemorrhage approaches
Jesus in fear and trembling, yet her faith leads to healing. Jesus responds not
with rebuke, but with tenderness: “Daughter, your faith has made you well”.
Catholics see this as a model of personal encounter with Christ, where fear
gives way to peace through faith.
Fear of
the divine can lead to awe and conversion – After Jesus casts out the legion of
demons, the townspeople are seized with fear—not just of the miracle, but of
the presence of divine authority. This fear, when rightly ordered, becomes holy
fear, a reverence that opens the heart to conversion.
Fear must
not paralyze our witness – The healed demoniac wants to follow Jesus, but
Christ sends him home to proclaim what God has done. Catholics are reminded
that even those once bound by fear or sin are called to be witnesses of God’s
mercy.
In all
these stories, fear is not dismissed—it’s acknowledged but then transformed.
The Catholic tradition sees this as a call to move from fear to faith, from
trembling to trust, and from silence to witness.
St. Josemaria Escriva[1]
was born in 1902 at Barbastro Spain. He was ordained in Saragossa in 1925 and
by divine inspiration founded Opus Dei which opened a new way for the faithful
to sanctify themselves in the midst of the world. He died on June 26, 1975 and
was canonized a saint on October 6, 2002.
Things to Do:
Read a longer biography of St.
Josemaria and at Anastpaul
Visit this site to find St. Josemaria Escriva's
writings
View this video on St. Josemaria
Escriva at YouTube
Visit
Opus Dei's official US website.
Opus Dei[2]
Work, family life, and the
ordinary events of each day are opportunities for drawing close to Christ and
making Him known to others. As the Second Vatican Council taught, every
baptized person is called to follow Christ closely, by living according to the
Gospel and making its teachings known to others. The aim of Opus Dei is to
contribute to that evangelizing mission of the Church, by fostering among
Christians of all social classes a life fully consistent with their faith, in
the middle of the ordinary circumstances of their lives and especially through
the sanctification of their work. The following are some of the main features
of the spirit of Opus Dei:
“Divine filiation is the foundation of
the spirit of Opus Dei,” said its founder, Saint Josemaría Escrivá. A Christian
is a child of God by virtue of baptism. Thus, the formation provided by the
Prelature seeks to foster among the Christian faithful a deep awareness of their
being children of God and helps them act accordingly. It fosters confidence in
divine providence, simplicity in their dialogue with God, a deep awareness of
the dignity of each human being and of the need for fraternity among all
people, a truly Christian love for the world and for all human realities
created by God, and a sense of calm and optimism.
Ordinary life. “It is in the midst of the most
material things of the earth that we must
sanctify ourselves, serving God and all mankind,” said Saint Josemaría. The
family, marriage, work – all of our activities – are opportunities for drawing
close to and imitating Jesus, trying to practice charity, patience, humility,
diligence, integrity, cheerfulness, and all the other human and Christian
virtues.
Sanctifying work means to work with the spirit of
Christ, to work competently and ethically, with the aim of loving God and
serving others, and thus to sanctify the world from within, making the Gospel
present in all activities whether they be outstanding or humble and hidden. In
the eyes of God what matters is the love that is put into work, not its human
success.
Prayer and sacrifice. The formation given by Opus Dei
encourages prayer and sacrifice in order to sustain the effort to sanctify
one’s ordinary occupations. Thus, members strive to incorporate into their
life’s certain practices of Christian piety, such as prayer, daily Mass,
sacramental confession, and reading and meditating on the Gospel. Devotion to
our Lady occupies an important place
in their hearts. Also, in striving to imitate Christ, they try to acquire a
spirit of penance by offering up small sacrifices, particularly those that help
them fulfill their duties faithfully and make life more pleasant for others,
such as renouncing small pleasures, fasting, almsgiving, etc.
Unity of life. Saint Josemaría explained that
Christians working in the world should not live “a kind of double life. On the
one hand, an interior life, a life of union with God; and on the other, a
separate and distinct professional, social and family life.” On the contrary:
“There is just one life, made of flesh and spirit. And it is this life which
has to become, in both soul and body, holy and filled with God.”
Freedom. The members of Opus Dei are
ordinary citizens who enjoy the same rights and are subject to the same
obligations as any other citizen. In their professional, family, political,
financial or cultural activities, they act with freedom and personal responsibility,
not involving the Church or Opus Dei in their decisions, nor presenting those
decisions as the only Catholic solutions. This implies respecting the freedom
and the opinions of others.
Charity. To meet Christ is to find a
treasure that one cannot stop sharing. Christians are witnesses to Jesus and
spread his message of hope among their companions, with their example and their
words. “Side by side with our colleagues, friends and relatives and sharing
their interests, we can help them come closer to Christ,” wrote Saint
Josemaría. The wish to make others know Christ, which is a direct consequence
of charity (that is, love of God above all things and of one’s neighbor as
oneself), cannot be separated from the desire to contribute to finding
solutions to the material needs and social problems of one’s surroundings.
Fighting
Evil? There’s A Summer Saint for That.
Is
There a Way to Combat Evil in Our Daily Lives?
We
can uphold Truth and fight these attacks not by any amazing feat, but simply by
fulfilling our Ordinary Work in the most perfect way. By fulfilling our daily
duty within our Domestic Churches we are building up the family culture. The
family is being attacked, and the more we strengthen and provide examples of a
true family, the more we present Truth against lies. And we can ask some of the
summer saints for help in these areas:
June
26 is the Optional Memorial of St. Josemaria
Escriva, who
helped promote the universal call to holiness, in whatever vocation or
avocation we live. That includes the usually hidden vocations of mothers and
housewives!
And
housewives have a patron saint to envy: July 29 is the feast of St. Martha, one of the saints of the Gospel,
a close friend of Jesus. How wonderful to turn to Martha to work on daily
chores, knowing that after Christ admonished her, she learned to put Him first
in doing all her work. How many other saints can brag to have Jesus as a close
personal friend, Who dropped by for personal visits and raised a brother from
the dead?
Later
in August, all cooks turn to another patron, St. Lawrence, the deacon and martyr, who died on a gridiron, joking as
he was dying to flip him over because the first side was done. Restoring a Catholic Culture
through the family can
be done one meal at a time, invoking saints like Martha and Lawrence to help us
serve the family with love, devotion, and a bit of variety and tastiness!
Saturday,
July 11, was the feast of St.
Benedict. St.
Benedict formed his Rule in imitation of the family. His monasteries following
the pattern of the family as Rome and the secular culture crumbled. Now as the
actual family structures crumble, we can turn to St. Benedict to help us
reinforce our domestic churches against these battles.
Above
all, the summer shares Our Lady as our greatest intercessor and example through
all these trials. She is honored as Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16, and in August honored by the Solemnity of the Assumption, and her Queenship, but we also see her as the Mother
of God, the homemaker of the Holy Family, the faithful mother who encourages us
to “do whatever He tells you.” She is forefront in the Communion of Saints
directing, fighting, nourishing, and advising those on earth.
It
is easy to feel overwhelmed by all these attacks, but we are not left alone. We
are surrounded by our cloud of witnesses and spiritual sisters and brothers to
help us in our daily battle.
Got battles to combat?
Yes, there’s a summer saint for that!
Bible
in a year Day 356 God Is Love
Today Fr.
Mike reminds us that God created us out of love, for love. Fr. Mike also points
out where the Catholic Church draws her doctrine on the difference between
mortal and venial sin, as well as what St. Paul means when he teaches that
there is only "one mediator" between God and man. 1 John: 4-5, 1
Timothy: 1-3, and Proverbs 30: 24-28
International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking[3]
Today serves to draw
awareness to the need for action and cooperation in order to achieve a
drug-free world. Illicit drugs and their trafficking pose a large health
threat to humanity. Drug problems and dependencies put a great deal of pressure
on health care systems and constitute a threat to the safety and well-being of
humans all around the globe. Long-term drug abuse has been linked to poor
general health, contraction of diseases through needle sharing, trouble with
the law, poor self-hygiene and alienation from loved ones, psychological
illnesses and death from overdose. In December 1987, the International Day
Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was designated by the United
Nations. It is celebrated annually on June 26, a symbolic day that commemorates
the dismantling of the opium trade in Guangdong. The day also serves as an
opportunity for Member Nations to reaffirm their support for UN Conventions
that attempt to control the world's drug supply.
Facts & Quotes
The
UN estimates that in 2007, the value of the illegal drug trade is 322 billion
dollars per year.
Approximately
51 billion dollars is spent on the war on drugs in the US every year.
No
one is immune from addiction; it afflicts people of all ages, races, classes,
and professions. – Patrick J. Kennedy, American democratic politician and
former US representative for Rhode Island.
Top Events and Things to Do
Watch
a movie on the perils of the war on drugs on society, government and the
citizens involved. Some suggestions are Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Sicario
(2015), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Christiane F (1981) and Blow (2001).
Spread
awareness by using the hashtags
#InternationalDayAgainstDrugAbuseandIllicitTrafficking, #saynotodrugs and
#warondrugs on social media.
Read
a book on the dangers of drug use and the problems with the war on drugs. Some
suggestions are: Smoke and Mirrors, Chasing the Scream, and Drug Wars.
Canoe Day[4]
There
is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic
compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. Sigurd F. Olson
There is a special day for
just about every hobby nowadays, and canoeing doesn’t miss out on the fun, with its
very own day of aquatic paddling celebration. Canoeing is a fantastic hobby,
and along with being environmentally friendly and relaxing, it is also a great
form of outdoor exercise that’s
suitable for all ages. It is
no surprise that canoeing gets its own day of celebration, with so many fans
around the world. Canoeing is an easy activity to learn, and with some basic
safety gear anyone can hit the water and enjoy this healthy hobby.
The
way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten.
It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a
way of life with profound and abiding satisfaction. Sigurd F. Olson
Despite the huge popularity of
paddling a canoe, Canoe Day began in 2007. Since that time, it has
become the highlight of every canoe loving fan each year, and you can find
activities in all regions of the world to enjoy paddling with new friends.
Canoes have been part of cultures all over the world, from the deep South
Pacific to the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Used for commerce and
hunting, fishing and recreation, the role they’ve played in the cultures of the past and in the world of
today cannot be understated. Even better, it’s a great way to get healthy and stay in Foodie: ARNI PSITO ME PATATES
shape
while getting out in to the wild. Going out to sea in a canoe is another unique
experience, one that has you above the water, but right down on it where you
can enjoy visits from critters like otters and seals.
How to Celebrate
Celebrating Canoe Day is
easy! You get out there and become one with your canoe! Explore the great wide
open and find adventure and freedom in the steady rhythm of your paddles
pushing you along. There are places you can’t get with roads or on foot, only
the river will take you there. Get out there and find what the world has to
offer, and come back with a sense of wonder and profound peace in your soul.
When a
man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. Sigurd F. Olson
Around the Corner
June
is national Accordion Month
June is
all about celebrating a special musical gem—it’s National Accordion Awareness
Month! This month, the accordion is the focus of the spotlight, a unique and
versatile instrument that adds a rich sound to various music styles.
From
folk tunes to polka and beyond, the accordion has a special place in the hearts
of music enthusiasts.
My wife
Diane played the piano and her brother played the accordion.
Party in the Park
When I and the Fam was stationed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Diane’s
brother was very good at the accordion and brought it to a park in Fort
Huachuca and played 4 hours and people danced and had a great time. Lawrence
Welk.
Manual of Indulgences
ACT OF FAMILY CONSECRATION
A plenary indulgence is granted to the members of the
family on the day on which it is first consecrated, if at all possible by a
priest or deacon, to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus or to the Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, if they devoutly recite the duly approved prayer
before an image of the Sacred Heart or the Holy Family; on the anniversary of
the consecration, the indulgence will be partial.
Bucket List:
Military Hop
Spirit hour:
Tsikoudia
National Stitch Day
Cheat: National
Steakhouse Month “make
it surf and turf”
Stay at home: ginger
fried rice`````
Get an indulgence
Daily
Devotions
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: For the men of the Porters of St. Joseph
Litany
of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
Rosary
SO ENDS OUR NIGHT (1941)
Fredric March • Glenn Ford • Margaret Sullavan
Directed by John Cromwell
A wartime noir stripped of glamour,
So Ends Our Night is not a tale of battles or strategy.
It is the story of hunted souls,
men and women made stateless by tyranny,
moving through a Europe where conscience has collapsed
and the law itself has become predatory.
March carries the weary dignity of a man
who has lost everything except his integrity.
Ford plays the younger exile learning
what courage costs when the world offers no shelter.
Sullavan is the fragile, luminous reminder
that even in darkness, tenderness survives.
Beneath the fugitive tension lies a harder truth:
evil advances fastest when ordinary people
decide someone else’s suffering is not their concern.
1. Production & Historical Setting
America Before Pearl Harbor
Released in 1941, the film arrives as the United States
is still officially neutral,
yet the moral stakes of Europe are unmistakable.
Hollywood was beginning to speak plainly
about the brutality of the Nazi regime,
and this film stands among the earliest
to portray refugees not as symbols,
but as human beings stripped of home, name, and rights.
Fredric March: The Conscience of the Film
March plays a man whose dignity is his last possession.
His restraint, his quiet endurance,
become the film’s moral backbone.
Glenn Ford: The Young Exile
Ford’s character is still learning
that courage is not loud —
it is persistent.
Margaret Sullavan: The Human Cost
Her performance embodies the tenderness
that totalitarianism tries to crush.
She is the reminder of what is at stake
when a society abandons the human face.
2. Story Summary
The Flight
Three refugees move across Europe,
hunted by the Gestapo,
denied papers, denied rest, denied identity.
The Pressure
Every border crossing is a judgment.
Every knock on a door is a threat.
The world has become a maze
designed to break the human spirit.
The Choice
In the end, the film is not about escape
but about the refusal to surrender one’s humanity
even when the world insists you are nothing.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. The Dignity of the Hunted
A man’s worth is not erased
because a regime declares him worthless.
B. Courage Without Applause
True bravery is often unseen,
performed in silence,
with no promise of rescue.
C. The Sin of Indifference
Evil thrives when good men
decide that suffering is someone else’s problem.
D. Identity Beyond Papers
The film exposes the fragility
of any identity rooted in citizenship alone.
E. Fidelity in Darkness
Remaining human when hunted
is a form of sanctity.
4. Hospitality Pairing — A Night of Wartime Sobriety
Drink: A stiff rye whiskey — sharp, unvarnished, uncompromising.
Plate: Dark bread, hard cheese, a soldier’s ration.
Atmosphere: A single lamp, shadows on the wall, a quiet room.
Symbol: A worn passport on the table — stamped, crossed out, denied.
5. Reflection Prompts
Where do I turn away from the suffering of others.
What part of my courage depends on comfort.
Where have I allowed legality to replace morality.
What identity would remain if every document were stripped away.
How do I remain human when the world grows cold.
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