Los Angeles - Ellicott City - London

August 2, 2021 The Feast of the Portiuncula Peace and Good, I flew out from LA to Baltimore so that I could participate in the simple profession and solemn profession of vows of some of our friars (four for simply profession and three for solemns). The simple profession took place in the chapel at our friary in Ellicott City, while the solemn profession was in the local church, St. Louis, in Clarksville. Both were beautiful. The solemn profession had a choir from Togo, since one of those professing was born there. After communion they played a vibrant song that had people dancing in the ailes. I was very moved. I have always felt an attraction to the African form of the liturgy which is filled with life and emotion. I flew from Dulles to London on Saturday. The flight was good. There was a considerable amount of paperwork to fill out before getting on the flight, but checking in at Washington and passing through passport control in London was easy. Today Great Britain declared that one who comes from the States does not have to quarantine any more. I had to take another covid test this morning, but that is all. Masks are not required, but they are recommended on public transport. The weather here the past couple of days was typical London - cool and rainy. Mark Twain once said that the worst winter he ever lived through was a July in London. Today, the sun has come out and it is really pleasant. I finished some reading: The Quiet Game by Greg Iles This is a story set in Natchez where a former district attorney and now an author, Penn Cage, arrives in his home town. He mentions an old murder of a black man many years before which she then puts in her newspaper. This begins a frightening series of events as the Penn Cage tries to solve the murder mystery (which seems to have been a racial crime). In the process, he and his family face incredible danger. The Aeneid of Virgil by Elizabeth Vandiver This was a twelve lecture course on the Aeneid by Virgil. This was an epic poem written toward the beginning of the reign of Augustus to give a mythic origin story for the now powerful Roman Empire. Vandiver is very good at presenting the material and the background. It is remarkable that Virgil actually wanted the text of the epic to be burned because he was dying before he could put the finishing touches on it. Augustus refused to do this, saving this masterpiece for Rome and for us. Megan Phelps-Roper by Audible Interviews This is an interview of a member of Westborough Baptist Church who left the Church and then wrote about her experience. This is the church which picketed at funerals, demonstrated at other Church functions to provoke others to violence so that they might sue them, etc. She explains why people interpreted scripture the way they did and how they actually thought that what they were doing was for other people’s benefit. Ugarit by Charles River Editors This short presentation is one of the better Charles River Editors productions. Ugarit was a city in the Mideast which was a trading center between Mesopotamia and Egypt and Greece. The population was Semitic. The ruins where not discovered until the 20th century. Among the important finds was a library of thousands of clay tablets written in a primitive cuneiform alphabet. Gideon’s Sword by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston Child and Preston are some of my favorite authors. They have written a long series of stories about a FBI inspector named Pendergast. This volume is part of another series. This one deals with a company that performs projects for the government and others which spies would normally do. The greatest tool of the company is a very intricate system of social manipulation and evaluation. In this book, Gideon, who has a condition that will kill him within a year, is sent out to discover the secrets of a Chinese scientist who was coming to the US. Sherman makes Georgia Howl by Charles River Editors This is the account of one of the most controversial actions of the Union army during the war. It speaks of Sherman’s conquest and destruction of the city of Atlanta, and then his march to the sea in which he left a path of destruction. He is still despised in the south for what he did. The excuse on the part of Sherman was that he had to destroy the backers of the rebellion, including their manufacturing and capacity to provide food for those who were fighting. The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner This is a fictional biography of Queen Juana la Loca, Juana the mad. The author speaks of her marriage to a Hapsburg heir who turns out to be unfaithful and power hungry. He treats her badly in many ways. She eventually poisons him. Her reign was clouded by the fact that Ferdinand (the husband of Isabella) closed her away and ruled in her stead. The author prefers to speak of her as totally innocent and manipulated by the men around her. She avoids speaking of the mental illness of some sort that does seem to have affected her. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude

Castro Valley - Coalinga - Arroyo Grande - Pismo Beach - Castro Valley

January 30, 2021 Peace and Good, I am completing my visitation of the California province. Last Sunday I went down to Coalinga which is in agricultural territory in the central valley of the state. I then went to the coast to visit our novices and to visit our parish along the coast in Pismo Beach. I will head back to Italy on the 4th if all works well. The one problem is that the Ghanian Embassy has my passport because I needed to send it to them for a visa request, and they have not yet sent it back. If needed, I could stay here a few extra days. The weather was very rainy for two days, something which is badly needed this year. Otherwise, it has been very nice, with the temperature between the mid 70's and mid 60's. I have been doing most of the visitation by phone due to covid. The rules for travel, etc. seem to change every 15 minutes. I have finished some reading: Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child This is another of the books by Preston and Child that I have read and enjoyed. They mostly involve mysteries in which the central figure, Inspector Pendergast, a ghostly genius who is incredibly eccentric, must resolve the difficulties. This volume involves a series of murders around a chapel where there is a strange cult meeting and performing animal sacrifices. There are possible zombies, a type of voodoo, etc. It is, as always with these authors, a book well worth reading. Canada is Awesome by Neil Pasricha This is a wonderful short book on how great Canada is. It is written and read by the son of an immigrant from India. The book shows the typical pride (always a humble pride) in the community nature of their country. The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor I have read several books by Saylor on a figure in Rome in the days of Julius Caesar known as the finder (a type of detective). This book involves a trip taken by the son of the Finder to visit the seven wonders of the ancient world (the statue of Zeus at Olympus, the pyramids, the mausoleum in Halicarnassus, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the temple of Aphrodite in Ephesus, and the Lighthouse in Alexandria). In each stop, the young son of the finder and his mentor (a Greek poet) must solve certain mysteries and crimes. Poverty of Spirit by Johannes Metz This is an incredible book that deals with the humility of the human condition and how it is only through our embracing of that condition that we can find peace and reach our full destiny. It is one that I am sure to read and reread again and again! Why Gettysburg Matters by Allen Guelzo This is a short treatment of the topic by a major author who has written a vast study on the Battle of Gettysburg. It was produced by audible books, and is one of a set of interviews by the company. Cat and Mouse on the Niger by Charles River Editors This is a short book dealing with the rush for colonies in Africa by the British and the French, especially on the Niger River (Nigeria, Benin, etc.), but also reaching out to the source of the Nile and the near war that occurred in Fashoda when the French arrived there and the British sought to expel them. End of Days: the Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James Swanson This is a very good treatment of the assassination of Kennedy. It mentions the various conspiracy theories and largely discounts them. It speaks of the strange personality of Oswald. It is generally favorable to the Kennedy’s and also the family of LBJ. I could recommend this book. The Devil’s Workshop: a Novel of Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad by Alex Grecian This is a strange novel of a group of vigilantes in London who capture criminals such as Jack the Ripper and torture them to make them pay for their crimes. A group of prisoners escape (something planned by the group) and cause havoc in the city, especially among the police and their families. Keep safe. fr. Jude

London

October 13, 2020 Peace and Good, I have begun my second week of quarantine in London. I am staying at our friary not to far away from Waterloo Station. Here is Great Britain, the quarantine means that you cannot leave your house. For the first six days, that meant to stay mostly in my room and avoid the other friars when I went down to eat. Fortunately, there is a nice roof on which I can do my daily walk. Corona has spiked again here, but especially in the north of the country. The Prime Minister has established a three tier system according to how much danger there is, and each tier has a different level of restrictions. I have been editing my Franciscan meditation book. 2/3's of it is done, and I am awaiting the proofs of the last third in the next couple of weeks. The weather here has been atrocious. It has been raining almost every day. I will finish my quarantine this coming Saturday, and then I have a series of meetings. I will be leaving London for Chicago on the 24th. I have finished some reading: Archaeology: An Introduction to the World’s Greatest Sites by Eric Cline This is an excellent and entertaining series of courses from the Teaching Company. It deals with archaeological techniques and finds throughout the East and West (centering on the ancient civilizations of the Mid-East). The professor who gave this presentation has a witty and funny style that makes series a joy to hear. Mysterious Polynesia: the Myths, Legends and Mysteries of the Polynesians by Charles River Editors This is a short book about the various myths among the Polynesian people. The book spends quite a bit of time talking about the stone monuments found at Easter Island – why they were constructed, how, etc. While the myths of the Polynesians are often similar throughout the range of their settlement, one nevertheless finds quite a bit of individual content in each band of islands upon which they are found. Pearl Harbor: Hinge of War by Richard Freeman This is a short overview of what led up to and what happened on December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor. The book is not intended to be all inclusive, but does give a good synopsis of the situation. Postwar by Tony Judt This is an extensive treatment of Europe in the aftermath of World War II up to the present days. I deals with the period of reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of the war, and then with the various movements that swept across Europe (both West and East), including labor agitation, industrialization, the failure of the soviet system, terrorism, etc.). The book is well written, and a source of an enormous amount of information, but its length requires a real commitment. The Battle of Tarawa by Hourly History This invasion of the small Pacific island during the early days of World War II by the marines was one of the bloodiest battles fought during the war. The island was small, but the Japanese were well prepared, and the US forces had not yet learned many important lessons about amphibious warfare that they were to learn and incorporate into the plans after this battle. Emperor Hirohito by Hourly History This is a short biography of Emperor Hirohito of Japan, especially in the years leading up to his reign and his role during World War II. The book, in fact, all but ignores what he did following the war, even though he continued to reign for another thirty years. It asks the question of whether he should have been indicted as a war criminal, given his acquiescence to many of the things his army and navy did during the war. Two Graves by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child This is another of the Preston and Child books that I have read. I like the series very much. This involves FBI investigator Pendergast and the death of this wife by the hands of a group of renascent Nazi’s who have set up a secret human breeding program in Brazil. Some of the action is a bit more fantastic than the other volumes in the series, and I could say that this is not my favorite of their books, but even so it is good enough to recommend. Have a safe week. Shalom fr. Jude

Ellicott City - Wappingers Falls - Chicopee

October 15, 2012 The Memorial of St. Theresa of Avila Peace and Good, This past week I was preaching a retreat to a group of our friars at a retreat house near Brewster, NY. It is run by the OFM friars and they were most welcoming. There were 40 friars on the retreat and it went very well. This is the fourth in a series of five retreats for the two eastern provinces to help them prepare for their union in 2014. I chose a number of instances in the Bible where people faced moments of transition. A lot of the older friars are especially grateful because they did not have a great preparation in Sacred Scripture when they were in theology school. By the time that I did my studies, they had changed the program extensively and I had a very good preparation. I am also talking about what is going on in the order throughout the world. Every few months there is a magazine that is mailed to all the friars about these things, but most of the friars feel overwhelmed by all the documents they are now receiving and which they are expected to read. It is a whole different thing for someone who is on the inside to explain what is happening. When the retreat ended on Friday, I drove down to Chicopee, MA where we have a rather large friary. I stayed in the house for the older friars, so it was nice and quiet. On Saturday morning I visited the Missionary Franciscan Sisters at their convent in Holyoke. I celebrated Mass for them and had breakfast with them. It was great catching up with them. There are sisters from Italy, Korea, Zambia and Romania - a true international community. I then went out and visited a few of our friars who are now in nursing homes. There is fr. Marion who used to be our provincial. He cannot walk any more due to neuropathy and he is suffering from a bit of dimentia. I visited fr. Pascal who is very ill with cancer (although you would never know it given his joyous temperament and his crushing handshake). Then I drove down to Enfield, CT to visit fr. Joseph Grzybowski. He was one of two brothers in the order. His brother Robert passed away a few years ago. (In fact, fr. Joe was anointing him, and Robert took his last breath as they reached the Amen of the ritual.) He, too, is suffering from neuropathy. Today I head down to Doylestown, Pa for the last of this series of retreats. These are some books that I have finished: Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child This is another of the Agent Pendergast novels by this pair of authors. He is a clever, sophisticated FBI special agent from New Orleans with an interesting pedigree (mental illness runs in his family) who must battle against black forces which are difficult to first of all come to know and then defeat. Yet, he seems to have a limitless source of innovation. The novels in this series that I have read so far all have him on leave from his job. I am beginning to wonder whether he ever actually shows up at the office. Yet, once one gets into the mind set of these novels, they are quite entertaining. In this one he must battle a plot launched by ex-Nazi’s and their successors. There is also a quest for Pendergast’s wife whom he had presumed dead after a lion attack many years before in Africa. I like the style, it is very eccentric to say the least. God is an Englishman by R. Delderfield The book is about the founder of a carriage company during the middle of the 19th century. It is very English in tone, and actually an enjoyable read. A soldier who comes across a fortune while fighting Britain’s wars in the Crimea and India uses it to set up a business. He marries the feisty daughter of a ruthless industrialist. She only gradually comes to appreciate the value of her husband’s work (her judgment earlier being clouded by her experience at home growing up). Furthermore, her husband only slowly learns how to treat her with responsibility and not as a mindless play thing to respond to his sexual needs. A number of incidents occur which cause the husband to trust and respect his wife more and more, until when he is sidelined by a terrible accident, she takes over his complicated business. There is a sub-theme throughout the book upon the treatment of women in 19th century England. This is almost a paean to capitalism which made England great. Yet, there is another sub-theme of treating one’s employees justly, as the hero of this story does. Not a bad book, but it is a bit wordy here and there. St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton This is an outline of the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi, but seen through the optics of Chesterton. The style is very British from the beginning of the 20th century. It is flowery and polemic. While all the basic details are there, I found that I just did not enjoy the presentation. One just has to remember that much of it is polemics addressed at the 19th century tendency toward secularism in England.