Time to talk of other things ...

August 10 -  Reflections on St Lawrence Fresco of St Lawrence by Blessed Fra Angelico   Saint Lawrence (225–258 AD), a holy martyr, was born in Spain in the first half of the 3rd century, and his life was marked by piety and charity. He was one of seven deacons who served the Church in Rome.  In the year 258, Emperor Valerian issued an edict demanding the execution of all bishops, priests, and deacons. Pope Sixtus II was captured and executed, but before his arrest, he prophesied that Lawrence, a deacon in Rome, would follow him in martyrdom three days later.    As the Roman Prefect targeted the wealth of the church, he summoned Lawrence and commanded him to surrender the church's treasures. He sent for Saint Lawrence and said, “You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening services. Now, yo...

    August 4: Feast of St John Vianney St John Vianney aka Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (1786-1859), fondly remembered as the ' Curé of Ars', is the patron saint of parish priests.    His extraordinary witness shows us the powerful healing that comes through God's mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By dedicating his entire life to the salvation of souls, the Curé of Ars proved that true wisdom and holiness stem from humility and total trust in the Lord.   Vianney’s remarkable sanctity and commitment to his small rural parish of 230 people in Ars, France (near Lyon) drew over tens of thousands of pilgrims each year - many sought to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation from him. So great was the number of people who came to Fr. Vianney that a railroad was laid with a special track to his parish to accommodate trains full of pilgrims. Soon people journeyed from all over Europe to attend his Masses or sit in his confessional where he spent at least 11 or 12...

 Reflections on St Alphonsus Liguori   I first learned about St. Alphonsus Liguori through his moving interpretation of the Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) where the reflections after each station are short, personal, and devotional in tone — designed to stir contrition and love rather than intellectual mediation. Over three hundred years ago, he created a simple structure where each of the 14 station follows the same pattern: an opening call and response (" We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You... because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world "), a short meditation on the scene, and a closing prayer. It soon became one of the most reprinted and translated versions, especially popular in English-speaking Catholic parishes around the world. Who was St Alphonsus Liguori? St. Alphonsus Liguori devoted his life to bringing God’s mercy to souls, especially the poor and spiritually neglected. He is also a Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Order of the...

 The award-winning David Austin Rose  Lady Emma Hamilton Rose A few years ago, an avid rosarian and long time friend, gifted me a charming rose plant which has proven to be a heart-stealer.   The rose in question is Lady Emma Hamilton ,  a David Austin English Rose producing dark red buds with dashes of orange, that open to chalice-shaped blooms of rich tangerine orange, with yellow-orange on the outside of the petals.  These enchanting blooms are set against very dark, bronzy green, polished leaves that slowly become dark green with age.  The flowers themselves have a strong, delicious, fruity fragrance with hints of pear, grape and citrus fruits. The growth is fairly upright but quite broad and bushy. More about David Austin and his roses David Charles Henshaw Austin, a British breeder, started breeding roses purely out of curiosity at age 21, in his spare time, working with Gallica and Floribunda varieties. He wasn't trying to build a business — he just ...

  Reflections of St Mary Magdalene        July 22nd is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene , the woman with seven demons who was cured by Jesus [Luke 8:2] before becoming one of his most ardent follower, who stood at the foot of the cross [John 19:25] - so it should come as no surprise that Jesus Christ chose Mary Magdalene to be the first one to see him after his Resurrection, commanding her, " Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God '" [John 20:17]      This prompted St. Thomas Aquinas to bestow the title " De Apostolorum Apostola " which translates to the Apostle to the Apostles .  In 2016, Pope Francis raised July 22 from a memorial to a feast day equal to that of the other apostles. It is widely accepted among secular historians that Mary Magdalene was a real historical figure, probably a wealthy Jewish woman from Magdala, a place with a notoriously unfaithful to the Laws of Moses b...

 Stone Fruit Tasting in Hickman, CA I was privy to an eclectic  3-hour  invitation-only stone fruit tasting at Dave Wilson Nursery in Hickman, CA which felt a little like Alice stumbling into fruit wonderland. It was a blind taste exercise where we were presented with 30 tree ripened fruit at room temperature (stone fruit are best enjoyed at room temperature when the volatile aromatic compounds provide the indelible floral, violet-like, and fruity bouquet) and were asked to provide feedback on each using a score card to rate key characteristics like Visual appeal of the fruit, Ripeness, Texture, Acidity/Tartness, Sweetness and Flavour besides an Overall rating. Stone fruits of the prunus genus include peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and nectarines and grafts/hybrids like aprium, pluot, cherum, pluerry, nectar plum etc. Central Valley in California is home to some of the most extensive farms of such stone fruit in the world.   Some of the fruit variaties we t...

  July 16: Our Lady of Mt Carmel and the brown scapular When I was young, my mother gave me a brown scapular of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. I didn't know her full story. Today is her feast day so allow me to tell you what I have learned ... The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel serves to remind the faithful of our Blessed Mother’s promise of special protection and heavenly graces to all those who wear the brown scapular, a sign of salvation and a safeguard in danger.    The significance of Mount Carmel Mount Carmel is associated with Prophet Elijah's zeal for the Lord and tradition holds he lived on the mountain and that there was a spring associated with him there called the "Fountain of Elijah".  In 1 Kings 18, Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal in a dramatic contest on Mount Carmel. Ahab, king of Israel,  under the influence of his wife Jezebel,  has led the people astray into worshipping Baal.  Elijah challenges 450 prophets of Baal to a test: two al...

 Solemnity of St Peter and Paul Today, June 29th, we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul, a day made holy for us by their exemplary life of courage and testimony of the two pillars of the Church.  Apart from Mother Mary, St Joseph and St John the Baptist, these two saints are the only humans commemorated in the Catholic calendar with a ‘Solemnity’. Peter (or Cephas) was the older brother of the apostle Andrew and son of John/Jonas of Bethsaida , and a fisherman by trade who was married and settled in Capernaum. Peter was the first Apostle to be named ( Mark 1:16-18 ). We can relate to his sense of doubt causing him to nearly drown when walking on the water ( Matthew 14:28-31 ), his denial of Jesus three times ( Mark 14:66-72 ) and weakness of sleeping during the passion in the Garden of Gethsemane ( Mark 14:32-42 ) even as we admire his passionate devotion to Christ ( Mark 14:29-30 ). He was the first one to recognise Christ as the Messiah, prompting Jesus to christ...