'YouTube' and the 'Year of Faith' 2012 - 2013

There is a vast amount of  material on YouTube, ranging in quality and content from crass to excellent. In this post I have included six short videos which certainly have impressed me. Three of these videos run in sequence, and relate to the short but remarkable life of a young boy called Garvan Byrne.

These are not necessarily recent video recordings, and you may already have seen some of them; if this is the case then I recommend perhaps a second viewing. For these people and for those viewing for the first time, I hope that you find them as interesting and enjoyable as I do.

http://youtu.be/cZ5aYoSr3Hg     I came across this link on the 'Diocese of Lancaster' blog site, and was impressed and humbled by this simple, courageous act of  Catholic evangelism. Only God knows what graces were bestowed on those at the scene, and those subsequently watching the recorded video. After all, it is 'from such little acorns, that giant oak trees grow'.

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http://youtu.be/vRIt8i0OwRo      This link comes from the 'Orbis, Catholicus, Secundus' blog site, and is a damning indictment of the effects of 'same-sex marriage' legislation in Canada which has been on the statute book since 2005. Clearly this misguided and evil legislation has developed ever-lengthening tentacles with which it is choking and strangling our Christian heritage,  corrupting our society, and above all destroying the innocence of our children and young people.

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I can honestly say that these are some of the most moving videos that I have ever seen. The short life of Garvan Byrne who died of a rare bone-marrow disease on 16th April 1985, aged 12 years, at Brompton Childrens Hospital, is humbling and inspiring. Garvan radiates a holy simplicity and loving relationship with Jesus which is truly extraordinary - 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dHDUfl5nMg&feature=relmfu
(Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Di9FMYdN48&feature=relmfu
(Part2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd07RUzEr3s&feature=relmfu
(Part3)
                                                     (ack. PiusVision)
                                            
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http://youtu.be/bymQ0j4LcLY

Finally a rousing version of the 'Torreador Song' from Bizet's 'Carmen', sung by members of the Philadelphia Opera Company at the city's famed Reading Terminal Market in January 2011. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and cheer to your heart!

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P.S. did you know that ....................

 .....just work that one out!                                                                                     (Ack.'Creative Review' blog)

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        'Year of Faith' - October 2012 to November 2013
                                                     

 Pope Benedict XVI, has declared the above 'Year of Faith' for the Roman Catholic Church worldwide:-

"The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is essentially to speak of God, to remember his sovereignty, to remind all, especially Christians who have lost their own identity, of the right of God to what belongs to him, that is, our life.

"Precisely in order to give a fresh impetus to the mission of the whole Church to lead human beings out of the wilderness in which they often find themselves, to the place of life, friendship with Christ that gives us life in fullness, I have decided to proclaim a “Year of Faith".........It will be a moment of grace and commitment for an ever fuller conversion to God, to strengthen our faith in him and to proclaim him with joy to the people of our time.

"Dear brothers and sisters, you are among the protagonists of the New Evangelization that the Church has undertaken and carries forth, not without difficulties, but with the same enthusiasm as the first Christians.

"To conclude, I make my own the words of the Apostle Paul that we have heard: 'I give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in my prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.'

"May the Virgin Mary, who was not afraid to answer “yes” to the Word of the Lord, and, after conceiving in her womb, set out full of joy and hope, always be your model and your guide. Learn from the Mother of the Lord and our Mother to be humble and at the same time courageous, simple and prudent; meek and strong, not with the strength of the world but with the strength of the truth. Amen."

(Extracts from Pope Benedict's address in Rome on 16 October 2011 announcing plans for the 'Year of Faith' starting in October 2012.) 

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'Have you begun a good life? Thank the Lord for it; but St Bernard warns you that to him who begins, a reward is only promised, but it is given to him alone who perseveres. It is not enough to run for the prize: you must run till you win it.'

(Thoughts from St Alphonsus de Liguori)

Poems I like - I hope that you agree

            In the world the forces of good and evil are locked in mortal combat. There is no doubt that powerful and evil forces worldwide, in the service of Satan, are destroying and disfiguring so much that is good, and replacing it with so much that is evil. We know from Christ's own words, that good will ultimately prevail over evil, and that our strength, solace and hope is in knowing Him, loving Him, and serving Him in this world, so that we may be eternally happy with Him in the next. To enable us to attain this,  Christ founded His Church, appointed St Peter as its head, and  promised to be with His Church all  days even unto the end of the world.  
            Occasionally I feel the need to escape, metaphorically speaking, from  our confused, and often sad,  real world,  and I  immerse myself in a book of poetry. After an hour or so reading my favourite poems, I feel mentally and spiritually refreshed, in rather the same way that beautiful, classical music, uplifts the soul.
            I am not a fan of poetry 'per se', I think appreciation demands an empathy between the reader and the poet, based on subject matter, the 'ethos' or psychology of the poem, and the manner in which the poetry is written. Again the same principles apply to the appreciation of certain types of classical music, substituting musical form and pattern for the written word.
            I am posting a few short poems by a little known writer working in the late 1920s early 1930s, under the name of Betty L Robertson. I have endeavoured, so far unsuccessfully, to trace this lady, and if any reader can throw any light on her life, it would be much appreciated. These poems are taken from a slim paper-backed book entitled 'Poems' by Betty L Robertson, and published/printed by Whitby, Light & Lane Ltd, Bridgwater, probably in the 1930s.

A Prayer

The stars, dear Lord, are gleaming on the sea,
The moon is there, and Thou art watching me.
Yet as beneath the sky I kneel to pray,
No words will come, no prayers have I to say.

Cold is the darkness, and the night is still,
But there has come a wind across the hill
Fragrantly blowing to me, as though Thy breath
Whispered of life, dear Lord, and not of death.

Yet can I ask Thee for my happiness,
When Thou hast all this mighty world to bless?
Ah God, Thy love is great, Thy ways are just,
But I am smaller than one grain of dust,

More insignificant, yet Thou hast said
Each hair is numbered on Thy children’s head.
The stars, dear Lord, are gleaming on the sea,
The moon is there, and Thou art watching me.
                                         c.  Betty L Robertson (April 1930)


Children

What should they know of life, these little ones?
    Who weep, and then forget why they were sad,
Who crown their lives with golden dreams, ambitions,
    And never doubt that they will come to pass.
What should they know of life?  Its sordidness
    To children is a thing of nothingness.
The earth to them was made for work and play,
     With new found joys in every endless day.
What should they fear from life, these little ones?
   
What should they know of love, these little ones?
    Who worship from the depths of heart and soul
More faithfully than older ones can tell,
    A simple toy, battered or torn, or broken.
And from the angels comes the love for mother,
    Kept sacredly aloof from any other,
A love, deep rooted in the little heart,
    That nought, not even death, could wrench apart.
What should they fear from love, these little ones?
   
What should they know of death, these little ones?
    Death, fearful in its great uncertainty,
A promised peaceful sleep, yet how we tremble
    To leave this world of ours, and walk with God.
But children do not doubt, Heaven must lie
    Beyond the twinkling stars, the tranquil sky,
For mother said that dark was safe as light,
    And Jesus watches thro’ the longest night.
What should they fear from death, these little ones?
                                                       c. Betty L Robertson (1930)


The Little Things

Because I could not face the world today,
     But wept alone where there were none to see,
     The pleasant smell of new-mown clover hay,
 Caused me to pause a while, and calm to be.

Because I sobbed as tho’ my heart would break,
     And felt that only death could heal this pain,
     The stolid firmness of a stable rake
 Begged me to wait, to reason, to be sane.

Because in spite of bitter tears, and strife,
     The world goes on, and duties still are there,
     We find it is the little things of life
 Which keep us sane, in moments of despair.
                                                             c. Betty L Robertson


Ad Astra

We must not ask of life not to be sad,
     Never to know of grief, or suffer pain.
For as the sunshine followeth the rain,
     So thro’ our tears, do we learn to be glad.

We must not ask to reach ambition’s height
     Without the struggle of uncertainty,
Without the climb where would the beauty be
     Of groping thro’ the darkness, to the light?

We must not ask, when strength is at an end
     That earthly help will still be waiting there.
It is when left alone to fight despair,
    We turn to Him, Who is indeed our Friend.
                                                             c. Betty L Robertson.


 For more poems by Betty L Robinson, see:-  http://umblepie-northernterritory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/poems-by-betty-lrobertson-gentle.html  

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  " Little children are loved at once; to see them and to love them is the same thing.
For this reason the Eternal Word chose first to be seen among men as an infant, to conciliate to Himself the love of all mankind."
(Thoughts from St Alphonsus)
                                            
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        'God bless our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI'

                

Some favourite books - Historic day for the F.SS.R.

It has recently been announced by Messrs D.C.Thomson & Co. that publication of the Dandy comic in its existing format, is to end in December 2012. Happily it is to be re-incarnated, apparently in a format more in tune with  the minds of children of the 21st century.  Some may question whether this is necessarily a good thing, and some may suggest that children’s minds do not really change from one generation to the next. No doubt the reality is that whilst children’s minds do not change, the world certainly does. Let us hope that the new Dandy continues to provide innocent delight and pleasure to children everywhere.

One of the great pleasures in life is reading. When aged about ten years, my idea of heaven was reading a ‘William’ book by Richmal Crompton, with a selection of sweets to hand,  preferably fruit or acid drops which lasted a long time.
Other favourites authors included  Arthur Ransome - ‘Swallows and Amazons’, ‘We didn’t mean to go to Sea’, etc.;   Enid Blyton  - ‘Valley of Adventure’, ‘Secret Five’, etc.;  W.F.Johns - the 'Biggles' stories of heroism by fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force; Percy F Westerman - similar stories of heroism  at sea involving the Royal Navy. There were many other authors of course, but those mentioned were particular favourites of mine.

As a teenager, mystery and detective stories were my  favourites.  Edgar Wallace, Dorothy Sayers, Arthur Coynan Doyle, Peter Cheyney ,  Earle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, were all authors whose books I looked for. I have to admit that my literary  taste was simple and  low-brow i.e.popular, rather than intellectual and high-brow,  and to be perfectly honest I think this is still the case.

As a young man, serious  reading took a back seat, in fact virtually disappeared into the boot!  There were so many other things to be done, leaving little time  to read  anything other than newspapers or  magazines.   Marriage, family, and my job, also sporting activities  and  involvement when possible in Church events, filled my life, and over time it became extremely difficult for me to discipline myself to read  a book of any real substance.   An Open University degree course, which  necessitated  reading  books on a variety of subjects, and  also my  job  which involved  reading  official documents and reports, certainly helped to exercise my brain, and it was enjoyable, but it could not be described as reading for pleasure.

It was only in later life that I found the time and inclination to read  those  books  that I had  postponed reading for so many years.  Much of the fun was actually searching the second-hand market place for the books I wanted. Finding those books at an affordable price often entailed  spending  many enjoyable hours  browsing  in bookshops specialising in second-hand books , of which there were many in Devon where we lived at the time.

Books I read now and which take pride of place on my bookshelf, include religious  biographies  of Saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church, lives of different Popes and eminent Catholic  hierarchal figures, particularly those of the 19th and 20th centuries, and lives of  outstanding English men and women eg. Winston Churchill,  Leonard Cheshire VC,  and his wife  Sue Ryder ; various war history books,  e.g.‘A Bridge Too Far’ by Cornelius Ryan; travel books, e.g. ‘In the Steps of the Master’ by HV Morton; short story collections by selected authors; and an eclectic assortment of books including novels by R.F.Delderfield, Norman Collins, and others;  poetry by John Betjeman  and others;   numerous historical biographies and books of religious interest e.g. 'Lives of the Desert Fathers', and others; also certain fine art reference books. 

If you  ever find yourself in Kirkwall, Orkney, with time on your hands, I recommend a visit to the only second-hand bookshop in town, situated next to the Library. I think the shop is called ‘McCarthy’s Bookshop’. At first sight the shop is not particularly prepossessing, but don’t judge it by external appearances.  Inside is a large selection of books to suit all tastes, and at extremely reasonable prices. There is a certain order within the shop, but not too much! The element of surprise and possible delight has not been eliminated by an over-scrupulously organised shop proprietor, thus when browsing, one retains  a  sense of hopeful anticipation! It is not a big shop, but it is full of books , on shelves and in boxes, high and low. The proprietor/ manager of the shop is a Scotsman with a pointed ‘Van Dyck’ beard, a droll but sharp  sense of humour, and a never-ending fund of  stories. He  appears  decidedly knowledgeable on most matters literary,  and  is genuinely helpful, always  remembering  his customer’s interests and needs even if he hasn’t seen the customer for several weeks.  I have bought several books from him, including one which according to  various  websites, was only available in Australia, the British Museum, and in south-west Scotland, at a shop which, coincidentally, shared the same owner as the Kirkwall shop. This was a book dealing with the sinking of the SS Athenia by a German submarine, on the first day of the 2nd World War, with an account of the incident by various survivors. I particularly needed this  book for a project here on Stronsay  in Orkney,  where we actually  have one of the  lifeboats  from the stricken ship ,  converted to an out-house and used as such for many decades , and which we still entertain faint hopes of restoring if sufficient funds can be raised.

        Lifeboat from SS Athenia on Stronsay foreshore.

My most recent purchase from this shop, is a trilogy of novels in one volume, translated from the French, entitled ‘Cecile among the Pasquiers’ written by Georges Duhamel, and published by Dent & Sons in 1940. The original retail price  was  9s.6d., a not inconsiderable amount of money at the time. I don’t read many novels, but  I was tempted by  some excellent reviews on the cover , and  have not been disappointed. I think it a beautifully  written book and one  which held my  attention from the beginning, which with  many books is not always the case, and  I find  it difficult to put down.  The author, a qualified doctor who served with the French army in the Great War, and thereafter strongly anti-war in his views, was a prolific writer and author of many books. I am  enjoying it to the extent that I have already purchased through Amazon, another book by the same author, entitled ‘The Pasquier Chronicles’, being  five further stories  in one volume, relating to the lives and fortunes of the same  family .

We  have an elderly lady friend on Stronsay, in her nineties, who is unable to read owing to poor eyesight. This causes her great frustration and distress as reading was her favourite pastime.  Her unfortunate situation has made me especially appreciative of the unique gift of sight,  reminding me that as the eyes are our 'windows to the world' ,  even more importantly they  are  the  ‘windows of our soul’.  

Which brings me to the final toast - 'To the Dandy. Long may it continue to flourish,  for the innocent pleasure and  delight of  children everywhere.’

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A unique and joyous occasion:-

Today, Wednesday, 22nd August 2012  is a very special day for the Religious Community, the 'Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer' (F.SS.R) also known as the 'Transalpine Redemptorists', based at Golgotha Monastery, Papa Stronsay, Orkney.

                                 

          R.C.Diocese of Aberdeen - Coat of Arms


'Invitation to the Public Profession of Vows of the Fathers and Brothers of the
Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

We have the joy of announcing to you that our communities in Papa Stronsay and Christchurch have been canonically recognised as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right and now form an officially recognised Religious Order. After consultation with the Holy See in Rome, the Decree of our Canonical Erection was issued on 15 August, 2012 by Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., the Bishop of Aberdeen. In consequence of this recognition, as a new Religious Order we invite you to our public profession of religious vows to be made before the Bishop of Aberdeen. The Profession Ceremony of the above will be held at 6.15 p.m. on Wednesday 22nd August, 2012, in Our Lady’s Chapel, Stronsay.'

Signed:   

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.        Fr. Anthony Mary, F.SS.R.

Br. Yousef Marie, F.SS.R.          Br. Jean Marie, F.SS.R.

Br. Magdala Maria, F.SS.R.       Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R.

Br. Nicodemus Mary, F.SS.R.    Br. Gerardo Maria, F.SS.R.

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Ave Maria, gratia plena,

Dominus tecum,

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae,

Amen.