Smoke in This Life Not the Next
Thursday — St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Contemplation & Love
Rich, honeyed (aged blend) Russell’s Reserve 10 Year
Earthy, sweet‑smoke (Cameroon)
“What does divine love ask of me.”
Thursday belongs to the saints who understood that love is not gentle sentiment but consuming fire. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote of charity with the clarity of a man who had allowed it to burn away ambition, pride, and the subtle self‑deceptions that cling to the religious life. His theology tastes aged—rich, honeyed, patient—like a bourbon that has spent long years absorbing sweetness through flame.
A Cameroon cigar suits such a meditation. Earthy, sweet‑smoke, steady. It reminds you that divine love is not theatrical. It matures slowly, deepening through quiet fidelity, humility, and the willingness to be refined.
The Church remembers another heart today, one entrusted to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1674. She kept the secret hidden at first, “as though on fire and intoxicated,” humility restraining ecstasy. But the vision returned: the Sacred Heart enthroned in flames, dazzling as the sun, transparent as crystal, bearing the wound of love, ringed with thorns, crowned with the Cross planted in it from the first instant of the Incarnation. A heart of flesh. A heart that suffers. A heart that rules through mercy.
Russell’s Reserve 10 Year belongs beside such a vision. Its sweetness comes only because it first accepted fire. Divine love works the same way—slowly, deeply, insistently—until the soul carries both sweetness and flame.
So Thursday asks: Where must I yield. What pride must soften. What mercy must be extended.
Offer your smoke as consent.
Let Your Heart Lord... rule mine.
AUGUST 20 Thursday-Saint
Bernard, Doctor of the Church
Whoever
FEARS the LORD will do this; whoever is practiced in the Law will come
to Wisdom.
Practiced in the law means to follow the commandment of
God and the commandment of God is love.
Your
freedom is a gift from God but with it comes human responsibility. God, who
sees everything, is neither the cause nor the occasion of sin. We have the
power to choose our behavior, and we are responsible for both the good and the
evil we do.
Deceivers
are those who
hold the Lord responsible for their sins.
We
can choose harm, or we can choose to heal.
As the
former Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu became a leading human
rights advocate who has championed causes such as poverty, racism,
homophobia, sexism, HIV/AIDS and war. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989
and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In his newest work, The
Book of Forgiving (co-authored with his daughter, Mpho Tutu), he
offers four steps to forgiving and healing:
Telling the Story
Naming the Hurt
Granting Forgiveness
Renewing or Releasing the Relationship
Here, we discuss this process, how his experiences with apartheid relate to it, and how he answers those who’ve criticized it.
Your first step to
forgiveness and healing is to “admit the wrong and acknowledge the harm.”
Doesn’t that just dredge
up old pain?
For
both the offender and the victim, the pain is there, often unacknowledged, and
that is when it can cause harm through festering. When I ignore a physical
wound, it does not go away. No, it festers and goes bad. It
may be initially painful to open up a wound, but then it can be cleaned out and
cauterized. And you can pour a healing balm.
Another step you list is
“asking for…and granting forgiveness.”
How do you forgive someone
who doesn’t think they’ve done anything wrong?
That
is a very important issue. If forgiving depended on the
culprit owing up, then the victim would always be at the mercy of the
perpetrator. The victim would be bound in the shackles
of victimhood. That is why forgiving is a gift to the forgiver as well as
to the perpetrator. As the victim, you offer the gift of your forgiving to the
perpetrator who may or may not appropriate the gift, but it has been offered
and thereby it liberates the victim. Jesus prayed that His Father should
forgive the men who were nailing Him to the cross even as they were doing so;
He even found an excuse for them and so really offered His forgiveness thereby.
He did not wait until they asked for His forgiveness. Of course, it would have
been far better if they had been penitent and asked for His forgiveness. It was
a gift He was giving to Himself as well, which released Him from being filled
with self-pity, an unhealthy psychological state. It would be grossly unfair to
the victim to be dependent on the whim of the perpetrator. It would make him or
her a victim twice over. The gift has been given. It is up to the intended
recipient to appropriate it. The outside air is fresh and invigorating and it
is always there. If you are in a dank and stuffy room, you can enjoy that
fresh air if you open the windows. It is up to you.
RNS: In a post entitled,
“Why Desmond Tutu is Wrong,” Lesley Leyland Fields suggests that your notion
that we forgive “for ourselves” is “killing biblical forgiveness.” She says,
“Biblical forgiveness is a gift first to the offender and to Christ.”
How do you respond?
I have already pointed out how important, very important, to give oneself that gift, of letting go of resentment and anger which diminish oneself. The self is quite important in who we are. Jesus quoting the Torah answers the question, “Which is the greatest law?” by saying,
“The
first is Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all….”
And
then He adds,
“The
second is, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”.
That is
the highest approbation one can hope for about proper self-love. We know the
havoc that has been caused by those with a feeble self-image, weak self-esteem.
They will usually throw their weight around trying to fill the hollow inside
them. Offering forgiveness prevents us from being destroyed by corrosive
resentment. It helps us grow in being magnanimous.
RNS: Fields also says that
Biblical forgiveness is “not about letting go of the past, but about redeeming
the past.
If
“redeeming the past” means “not allowing the past to haunt you, to have a
stranglehold on you” then I’m happy to let her use her phrase.
RNS: You mention that
sometimes the final step is “releasing” rather than “renewing” the
relationship.
How do you know which is the right path?
There
are the obvious ones: an abusive relationship should be easy to
identify though often one of the most difficult to end; or one where you
are likely to be misled into risky behavior–like excessive drinking,
experimenting with dangerous substances, etcetera. But there are other more
subtle ones such as friendships that can lead to infidelity and other things...
In the end, we know the relationships we should end.[1]
Copilot’s Take
Sirach tells us that “whoever fears the Lord will do this; whoever is practiced in the Law will come to Wisdom.” St. Bernard would say the same: the fear of the Lord is not terror but reverence, the kind of awe that produces clarity, courage, and moral steadiness. The Catechism teaches that evil is confronted first by the one who fears God rightly, because such a person sees reality truthfully. Evil thrives in confusion, resentment, and self‑deception. Wisdom thrives in the heart that knows God is God, and we are not.
The CCC is clear that freedom
is ordered toward the good. “Freedom makes man responsible for his acts,” it
says (CCC 1734). America’s freedom is no different. It is a gift, but it is
also a charge. We are responsible for what we build, what we tolerate, and what
we allow to shape our culture. Evil in America does not always appear as open
persecution; more often it appears as indifference, cynicism, or the slow
erosion of moral clarity. The Catechism warns that sin creates a “proclivity to
sin” (CCC 1865). If a nation does not confront small evils, it eventually
becomes unable to confront large ones.
St. Bernard teaches that the
root of evil is disordered love—loving lesser things more than God. The CCC
echoes this: authority is legitimate only when it seeks the common good (CCC
1903). Whenever any system—political, cultural, or ideological—undermines human
dignity, restricts conscience, or coerces belief, it becomes a distortion of
authority. Confronting evil in America means insisting that every form of
leadership, from the smallest household to the highest office, must serve the
human person created in the image of God.
Desmond Tutu’s four steps of
forgiveness—telling the story, naming the hurt, granting forgiveness, and
renewing or releasing the relationship—mirror the CCC’s understanding of
conversion. Evil is confronted by truth, not denial. It is confronted by naming
the wound, not burying it. It is confronted by forgiveness, not vengeance. And
sometimes, as Tutu says, confronting evil means releasing a relationship that
leads only to harm. The CCC teaches that Christians must obey God rather than
men when civil commands contradict divine law (CCC 2242). That is not
rebellion; it is fidelity. It is the same fidelity that animated the Maccabees,
the martyrs, and every believer who has stood firm when pressured to abandon
truth.
In America, confronting evil
means refusing to let resentment, anger, or fear become our operating
principles. It means practicing the law of love, which is the fulfillment of
all commandments. It means remembering that forgiveness is not weakness but strength—the
strength to refuse to be shaped by the sins of others. Evil wants to reproduce
itself. Forgiveness breaks its lineage. St. Bernard would say that forgiveness
is the hammer that breaks the chains of pride, just as Judas Maccabeus was the
hammer that broke the chains of oppression.
Ultimately, confronting evil
in America begins where Sirach begins: with fear of the Lord and practice of
the Law. It begins with the interior life—prayer, virtue, self‑examination, and
the courage to choose healing over harm. It begins with the willingness to name
what is broken, forgive what can be forgiven, and release what must be
released. The CCC teaches that the Gospel must be proclaimed “in every age”
(CCC 890). That includes ours. Evil is confronted not by outrage but by
holiness. Not by noise but by truth. Not by force but by fidelity. And
fidelity—lived quietly, consistently, and courageously—is the one thing evil
cannot withstand.
If you want, I can shape this
into a Smoke in This Life Not the Next entry or integrate it directly into your
August 20 devotional.
Bernard of Clairvaux[2]
Bernard, the second founder of the Cistercians, the Mellifluous Doctor, the apostle of the Crusades, the miracle-worker, the reconciler of kings, the leader of peoples, the counselor of popes! His sermons, from which there are many excerpts in the Breviary, are conspicuous for genuine emotion and spiritual unction. The celebrated Memorare is ascribed to him. Bernard was born in 1090, the third son of an illustrious Burgundian family. At the age of twenty-two he entered the monastery of Citeaux (where the Cistercian Order had its beginning) and persuaded thirty other youths of noble rank to follow his example. Made abbot of Clairvaux (1115), he erected numerous abbeys where his spirit flourished. To his disciple, Bernard of Pisa, who later became Pope Eugene III, he dedicated his work De Consideratione. Bernard's influence upon the princes, the clergy, and the people of his age was most remarkable. By penitential practices he so exhausted his body that it could hardly sustain his soul, ever eager to praise and honor God.
Patron: beekeepers; bees; candlemakers; chandlers;
wax-melters; wax refiners; Gibraltar; Queens College, Cambridge.
Things to Do
Because St. Bernard is the patron of candlemakers, a great project would
be to learn how to make candles. Candles 101 discusses in brief about making homemade candles, rolled, dipped and
molded. Practicing making candles now will help in preparing to make a family
Christ Candle for Advent and Paschal Candle for Easter.
From the Catholic Culture library: Preaching Conversion
Through The Beatitudes: Bernard Of Clairvaux's Ad Clericos De Conversione and Pope Pius XII On St.
Bernard Of Clairvaux, The Last Of The Fathers.
Though of a rich and noble family St. Bernard continually asked the
question: "For what purpose are you on earth?" Spend some time today
in front of the Blessed Sacrament and ask yourself this question.
This site — complete with words and midi files — features hymns written by St.
Bernard.
When you fall into sin ask for help of Christ via His “Shoulder Wound”.
Learn more about the Cistercian Order founded by St. Bernard.
Read more about the life of St. Bernard.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux Dijon Chicken
30 DAY TRIBUTE TO MARY 6th
ROSE: The Extraordinary Preacher, St Louis de Montfort, on the Rosary
30 Days of Women and Herbs – Frauendreissiger
European Wild Ginger (Asarum europaéum)
MEDICINAL PLANTS Day 6 EYE DISEASES-Revealed by Heaven to
Luz De María
EUPHRASIA Anti-inflammatory, decongestant and eye reliever. Antibacterial
and to treat conjunctivitis and sty. Euphrasia has ophthalmic properties:
A disease is coming that will attack the eyes; for this, use the plant
known as Euphrasia. Blessed Virgin Mary, 05.24.2017
Around the Corner-Know and follow the beatitudes of Christ.
Wake up to the mouthwatering aroma of sizzling bacon. Embrace the day by
indulging in a hearty bacon-infused breakfast. Crispy bacon strips, fluffy
scrambled eggs with bacon bits, and a side of bacon-wrapped dates make for a
delectable start.
Protect yourself from pesky mosquitoes by whipping up a DIY mosquito
repellent spray. Mix water, witch hazel, and a few drops of essential oils like
citronella, lavender, or eucalyptus. Apply liberally before venturing outdoors
to keep those buzzing bugs at bay.
Savor the controversial yet irresistible Hawaiian pizza. Customize your
own version with tangy pineapple, savory Canadian bacon, and gooey mozzarella.
Whether you’re a purist or an adventurous foodie, give this polarizing pie a
try.
Tune in to your favorite radio station or create a personalized playlist.
Dance around your living room, belt out your favorite tunes, or discover new
music genres. Let the music transport you to another world of melodies and
rhythms.
Cap off the day with a slice of decadent chocolate pecan pie. Whether
store-bought or homemade, this rich dessert is a fitting finale to a day filled
with unique celebrations. Share a slice with loved ones or savor it all to
yourself, embracing the sweet moments that life offers.
Best Place to visit in
August: Block Island, Rhode Island
Comment from Rachel: My dad and mom were married in Rhode Island after he
returned from Antarctica and for a time rented an apartment over the
transportation museum in East Greenwich, Rhode Island
As well as fabulous restaurants, charming independent stores and
accommodation ranging from quaint hotels to quirky Airbnb’s, there’s over 25 km
of beautiful sandy beaches to explore.
There are also hiking and biking trails, wildlife-spotting opportunities,
two historic lighthouses and awesome outdoor activities such as sailing,
swimming, kayaking and paddle-boarding.
I just suggest booking your ferry trip in advance, especially if you plan
to take your car.
Visitor’s Center Address:4 Center Rd, New Shoreham, RI 02807
Map Location
Average temperatures – 77 degrees
My highlights…
Hiking up to Mohegan Bluffs for a magnificent view overlooking the
beautiful ocean and landscape.
Checking out the Spring Street Art Gallery. I especially loved the
photographs and the ceramics.
Hiring an e-bike and heading out onto the scenic Clay Head Trail, the
views of the scenic rocky beach and the bluffs were amazing!
Discovering the rocky and serene Cow Cove and spotting birds and seals
there.
Foodie- 10 Best Typical Foods from Malaga
Seafood Gumbo
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Catfish
Peach Ice Cream
Bucket List Trip: “The World” next port of call:
Spirit Hour: Arise my Love Cocktail
Daily Devotions
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Reparations for offenses and blasphemies
against God and the Blessed Virgin Mary
Religion in the Home for Preschool: August
Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
Rosary
THE AMAZING MR. X (1948)
Turhan Bey • Lynn Bari • Cathy O’Donnell Directed by Bernard Vorhaus • Cinematography by John Alton A Séance of Shadows Where Grief Becomes the Door to Deception
The Amazing Mr. X is a supernatural‑tinged noir that understands the most dangerous illusions are the ones we ache to believe. Its beach house, drifting fog, candlelit séances, and echoing stairwells become the stage for a deeper revelation: grief makes the heart porous. Turhan Bey’s Alexis is elegant, hypnotic, and predatory; Lynn Bari’s Christine is wounded, yearning, and vulnerable to the promise of one more voice from the dead. Their connection is real — but reality is precisely what makes it perilous.
This is noir without cynicism. The danger is longing. The fire is grief. The verdict is awakening.
🎞️ Film Card — The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
The Amazing Mr. X 1948 • 6.4/10 IMDb • 78 min
A grieving widow is drawn into the orbit of a charismatic spiritualist who claims he can reach her dead husband. But the séances, voices, and apparitions conceal a carefully engineered deception — one that turns the supernatural into a weapon against the heart. Film Noir • Thriller • Supernatural • Deception
Director Bernard Vorhaus Cinematography John Alton Stars Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O’Donnell Studio Eagle-Lion Films Notable Alton’s spectral lighting; Bey’s velvet menace; grief as vulnerability
1. Production & Cultural Setting
Postwar Haunting America emerges from war with absences — empty chairs, unfinished conversations, unresolved losses.
Supernatural Noir The occult becomes a metaphor for emotional vulnerability.
Alton’s Ghostlight Light behaves like a spirit: revealing, concealing, accusing.
The Predator of Comfort Alexis offers solace, which becomes the trap.
Grief as Atmosphere Every frame carries the ache of what cannot return.
2. Story Summary
The Widow Christine mourns a husband whose voice still seems near.
The Spiritualist Alexis enters with charm, ritual, and manufactured miracles.
The Pull Christine wants to believe; her sister fears the danger.
The Reveal The supernatural dissolves — replaced by criminal manipulation.
The Reckoning Christine awakens to truth; Alexis faces the consequences of his illusions.
3. Moral & Emotional Resonances
A. Grief Makes Us Vulnerable Longing can become a doorway for deception.
B. Comfort Can Be a Weapon Predators often arrive disguised as healers.
C. Illusion Is a Slow Poison The lie feels gentle until it tightens.
D. Light Reveals What We Fear Alton’s cinematography becomes moral commentary.
E. Heaven Does Not Speak Through Manipulation True consolation never requires illusion.
4. Hospitality Pairing — A Thursday of Longing
Food: Dark‑chocolate truffles with sea salt — rich, bittersweet, dissolving slowly. They mirror the film’s emotional texture: grief that tastes sweet at first, then reveals its depth. The salt stands in for truth — sharp, necessary, cutting through illusion.
Drink: Black Manhattan (rye, Averna, bitters) — brooding, aromatic, elegant. The rye gives backbone; the amaro gives mystery; the bitters give warning. It’s a drink that feels like a séance in a glass — alluring, shadowed, and capable of turning on you if you forget what’s real.
Atmosphere: A dim room, a window cracked to the night surf, candles flickering against glass, the sense of someone missing.
Symbol: The séance — the temptation to hear what cannot be heard.
5. Reflection Prompts
Where does longing make me susceptible.
Where am I tempted to believe what comforts rather than what is true.
Where must grief be purified rather than indulged.
Where is illusion threatening my clarity.
Where does Heaven offer real consolation instead of counterfeit hope.
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