San Antonio - Mishawaka, IN - Boynton Beach, FL

February 15, 2016 Peace and Good This past week I have been giving a workshop on the Gospel and Psalms to the novices in our federation. They are located in Mishawaka, which is next door to South Bend, IN. There are seven of them, and they are a very diverse group: one from Netherlands, one born in Haiti, one born in Togo, one who is British, two Latino, and one Anglo. Yet, they are a very supportive group. I was very impressed with them. I have been giving this workshop to the novices for a number of years. It is a good time to get to know the men in formation. There are two of them from our custody in Great Britain, two from Our Lady of Consolation Province, two from Our Lady of Angels Province and one from St. Joseph Cupertino Province. The weather in South Bend was very, very cold. It was good flying down to Florida yesterday where the weather is much more moderate. I am here for a meeting with the provincials. We will be staying at the local diocesan seminary, and then we will be meeting at St. Mark's Parish in the area. I have been here before, having preached a parish mission here. I have finished some books: Deep Storm by Lincoln Child I have read a number of books which Child wrote in partnership with Prescott (the series about the detective Aloysius Pendergast). This is the first that I have read by him alone. It deals with a drilling platform which has detected a mysterious signal coming from below the outer crust of the earth. The government arranges to drill for it, but many of the people on the underwater drilling platform are becoming mysteriously ill. A doctor is called in to discover the cause of the difficulties. The plot becomes more complicated by the fact that someone is trying to sabatoge the project, and also that whoever placed the source of the signal underground left several forms of warnings to frighten the curious away. Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel This is the book behind the TV series about Thomas Cromwell, an official in the court of Henry VIII. Cromwell is presented as having very clear views about various things, but he is also a basically decent man. One sees all the intrigue of the court and the capricious behavior of the king. One also sees a very negative picture of Anne Boylyn, Henry’s second wife. The book is very good, but one must be attentive because the scene changes quite a bit. This volume ends with the death of Thomas More. Oscar the Detective by Harlan Page Halsey This is a silly story which is very dated about a detective who, although he is small of stature and seems weak and ineffective, is actually stronger and more clever than any of his opponents. He must battle against thieves, both domestic and foreign. The Poinsonby Diamonds by L.T. Meade and Clifford Halifax A doctor assigns a nurse to care for a deeply disturbed young woman (who is very rich and well connected). She slowly recovers, but then her parents arrange a marriage for her. Her future husband shows her a diamond necklace which will soon be hers. She loves the necklace, but it soon disappears. All the evidence point to the nurse who is highly virtuous. The doctor must solve the mystery to absolve the nurse of responsibility. A Moving Experience by Thomas Swick This article is written by a travel writer. He speaks of his experiences during travel. He often finds himself almost as a spectator, bored at what is passing by and not even registering it. I know what he fells like, for I have seen so many things that I really don’t want to see new things any more. He only finds his travels interesting when he enters into the lives of those whom he finds in the various sites he visits. He especially appreciates those places which are not on the “A” list of tourist sites. He prefers to visit those places which receive fewer visitors but which treat those visitors as guests and not tourists. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude