Monday, October 8

Joseph says that sure, he trusts President Bush, but he still feels the need to keep vigil far into the night. He just feels safer that way.
Here's an excellent article that very clearly explains the roots of bin Laden's ideology. Would that the idiots on the left who prattle on about a "racist war" would just understand these simple points: Bin Laden's Vision Thing.
St. Iwi. That's one of today's more notable feastdays. He was a missionary in early medieval Britain, and I found this detail of his life particularly appealing:

Following the Irish ideal of an exile for Christ, he took ship without bothering to ask its destination, planning to evangelize where it landed

There's a thought. In this era in which the ideal life is one which is planned and managed, from birth through death, how startling to be reminded of reality: our plans are for naught, and it's a good thing, too. It's a rather different philosophy, isn't it: Whereever God takes me, there I will love as Christ did.

Read about St. Iwi here


What an odd sensation. To come home from Mass yesterday, which was Respect Life Sunday in Catholic Churches, to be met with the news that we've gone to war.

We pray for peace, we pray for real peace. There are many frightening things about this matter, not least of which to me, is my confusion about exactly how we will know when it's over - how we'll know when our goals will have been achieved. We're not exactly waging wars against other nation-states, although they are certainly in the mix. We're waging war against terrorists who live and plan in secret in lots of different countries. How will we know when they've been vanquished and we're safe from retaliation, both here and abroad? I think that we're going to see a shift in the American consciousness and probably even behavior as this worrisome question starts to settle in and take root.


My husband and I both noted our irritation yesterday at the use of the "Prayer of St. Francis". (It was printed on the front page of our church bulletin yesterday) It's certainly a beautiful little prayer, but I hope you know that St. Francis almost surely had nothing to do with it. Here's a brief explanation, grabbed off of this page

All the evidence points to a composition sometime in the early 20th century. There are no pre-20th century prayer books in which it appears in any form. The first known printed copy of the prayer appears in a small 20th century Italian prayer book and therein the prayer is ascribed to William the Norman. A holy card from later on has it ascribed to William the Conqueror. It was not until sometime in the middle of the 20th century that it was first attributed to St. Francis. There is some evidence that Cardinal Spellman is the one who is responsible for the title. There is evidence that he came across the prayer in Italy, brought it back with him to the United States, and had it printed under the title "Prayer of St. Francis