Monday, May 11, 2026

Smoke in This Life and Not the Next

Theme: Intercession & Responsibility
Cigar: El Cheapo bundle stick — rough, uneven, penitential
Drink: Evan Williams Black — honest, unvarnished, working‑class
Virtue: Intercession & Responsibility

Reflection:
St. John Vianney doesn’t give you a metaphor. He gives you a voice — the cry of souls who can no longer help themselves:

“They suffer… they weep… they demand with urgent cries the help of your prayers… Tell them that since we have been separated from them, we have been here burning in the flames!”

There is nothing sentimental in that. No soft edges. Just the blunt truth that love continues past death — and that responsibility does too.

Tonight’s cheap cigar fits the work. It burns crooked, tastes harsh, flakes ash like it’s shedding its own impatience. It demands attention. It refuses to let you coast. It’s a reminder that purification is not elegant. It is gritty, uneven, and real.

Evan Williams Black does the same work: straightforward, unpretentious, penitential in its own way. A drink that doesn’t pretend to be more than it is — and therefore pairs perfectly with a night meant for the dead, not for your palate.

This is the masculine heart of intercession:

not mystical fireworks,
not emotional theatrics,
but the steady willingness to stand in the gap for those who cannot stand for themselves.

Your smoke becomes a small offering. Your discomfort becomes a small mercy. Your prayer becomes a rope lowered into the fire.

And the souls — forgotten by many, remembered by few — wait for men who will take responsibility for the bonds of love that death could not sever.

If you wish me good, pray for my dead.
If I wish you good, I will pray for yours.

Intercession is the friendship that continues beyond the grave.
Responsibility is the love that refuses to abandon its own.

And purification is walked, not theorized — by them in fire, by you in charity.

Monday Night at the Movies

🔸 May 2026 – Martyrdom & Eucharistic Mystery

May 4 – A Short Film About Love (1988)
May 11 – Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
May 18 – Ben-Hur (1959)
May 25 – The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Martyrdom in May is not a theme but a progression. These four films form a single ascent: a man learns to see rightly, to love faithfully, to surrender vengeance, and finally to offer his life without reserve. A Short Film About Love begins the month by stripping desire of its illusions; it shows how distorted longing must die before any true gift of self can emerge. Make Way for Tomorrow then reveals the quiet crucifixion of fidelity — the kind of daily, hidden sacrifice that forms the backbone of every Eucharistic life. By the time Ben‑Hur arrives, the pattern is unmistakable: the blood of Christ breaks the cycle of retaliation and reorders the heart toward mercy.

The month culminates in The Passion of Joan of Arc, where the interior work becomes visible witness. Joan stands before her judges with nothing left to protect, her face becoming the icon of a soul fully offered. In her, the Eucharistic mystery reaches its final clarity: a life consumed in obedience, a body given up, a will aligned with God’s. The May sequence teaches that martyrdom is not an event but a formation — the slow, disciplined shaping of a man into something that can be placed on the altar and broken for others.

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)

Victor Moore • Beulah Bondi • Fay Bainter

A domestic tragedy where aging, duty, and quiet heartbreak collide with the era’s most uncomfortable truth: families often fail the people who raised them. Directed by Leo McCarey, the film strips away sentimentality and exposes the moral cost of convenience. Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi give performances of devastating restraint—two ordinary people whose love is stronger than the world’s indifference.

Sources: walmart.com

1. Production & Historical Setting

Released in 1937 by Paramount Pictures, Make Way for Tomorrow stands at the crossroads of:

Post‑Depression realism — the economic wounds of the 1930s still raw, with aging parents often displaced by financial collapse.
McCarey’s moral seriousness — the same year he won an Oscar for The Awful Truth, he quietly made the film he considered his best.
The rise of social‑problem cinema — stories about poverty, aging, and the fragility of the American family.
The shift from sentimental elder portrayals — no soft lighting, no comforting illusions, just the truth of what happens when love outlasts resources.

The world is small: living rooms, boarding houses, train stations, and the polite suffocation of middle‑class respectability.

But the moral terrain is vast—duty, gratitude, sacrifice, and the quiet heroism of two people who refuse to stop loving each other even as their children retreat.

The cultural backdrop:

The elderly as economic burdens in a recovering nation
Adult children torn between compassion and convenience
Marriage as a lifelong covenant tested by poverty
The American home as both sanctuary and battleground
The growing fear of institutionalizing aging parents

The film’s power lies in its restraint: Bondi’s trembling dignity, Moore’s gentle optimism, and the slow, unbearable realization that love is not enough to keep them together.

2. Story Summary

Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) lose their home to foreclosure after fifty years of marriage. Their five adult children gather—not to solve the problem, but to distribute the inconvenience.

No one will take both parents.

So the couple is separated:

Lucy goes to live with her son George and his socially anxious wife Anita.
Barkley goes to his daughter Cora, who treats him as a disruption to her routines.

The separation becomes a slow unraveling:

Lucy’s presence embarrasses Anita’s social circle.
Barkley’s cough becomes an excuse to send him away to California.
Phone calls between the couple become their only refuge.
Their children speak of them with polite cruelty—“practicality,” “space,” “timing.”

Then comes the luminous final day:

A reunion.
A borrowed afternoon.
A walk through the city like young lovers.
A dinner where strangers treat them with more kindness than their own children.
A dance.
A promise to meet again.

And then the train pulls away.

The ending is quiet, devastating, and morally unanswerable.

3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances

A. Fidelity as a Lifelong Vow
Barkley and Lucy’s marriage is the film’s moral center—steady, tender, unbroken even by poverty or separation.
Their love is a covenant, not a convenience.
B. The Sin of Polite Neglect
The children are not villains—they are busy, embarrassed, self‑protective.
The film exposes the spiritual danger of “reasonable” selfishness.
C. The Dignity of the Elderly
Lucy’s line—“The only fun left is pretending”—reveals the inner world of those who feel themselves becoming invisible.
The film insists on their humanity.
D. The Judgment of Ordinary Choices
No one commits a dramatic betrayal.
Instead, the tragedy emerges from small decisions: postponements, excuses, rearrangements, “just for now.”
The moral cost accumulates quietly.
E. Love Without Rescue
There is no miracle, no reversal, no sentimental salvation.
Only the truth that love can be deep, faithful, and still powerless against the world’s indifference.

4. Hospitality Pairing — The Last‑Day Supper

A warm cup of black tea — simple, comforting, the drink of long marriages
A slice of apple pie — American sweetness with a bitter edge
A wool blanket — the texture of shared years and quiet endurance
A small table set for two — intimacy in a world that has no room for them
A setting for nights when you want to honor memory, fidelity, and the cost of loving to the end.

5. Reflection Prompts

Where have I mistaken convenience for compassion?
Whom have I quietly pushed to the margins of my life?
What promises have I allowed circumstances to erode?
How do I honor the elders whose sacrifices built my world?
Where is love asking me to stay faithful even when the world says “be practical”?

“Make Way for Tomorrow” and the Catholic Art of Dying Well

A Film Review and Spiritual Reflection

There are films that entertain, films that instruct, and films that quietly wound. Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) belongs to the last category—a story so gentle in its telling and so brutal in its implications that it lingers like a bruise. Orson Welles famously said it would “make a stone cry.” What he didn’t say is that it also exposes the spiritual poverty of a culture that has forgotten how to accompany the dying.

Viewed through a Catholic lens, Make Way for Tomorrow becomes more than a social drama. It becomes a meditation on the conditions necessary for a holy death, and a warning about what happens when those conditions collapse.

I. The Plot as a Parable of Abandonment

The story is simple:
Barkley and Lucy Cooper, an elderly couple who lose their home, are forced to separate and live with different adult children. Their presence is inconvenient. Their needs are embarrassing. Their love for each other is treated as a logistical problem.

The film’s final act—two old people savoring their last hours together before being separated forever—plays like a secular Stations of the Cross. There is no villain, only a society that has normalized the quiet disposal of its elders.

Catholic tradition has a name for this: the sin of abandonment.

II. What the Film Reveals About the Modern Deathbed

The Coopers are not dying in the literal sense, but they are undergoing a slow social death:

They are displaced from their home.
They are separated from each other.
They are tolerated, not loved.
They are managed, not accompanied.

This is precisely the opposite of the Catholic vision of dying well.

The Church teaches that the final season of life requires four things:

Presence
Sacraments
Reconciliation
Hope

The Coopers receive none of these. Their tragedy is not poverty—it is isolation.

III. The Catholic Counter‑Vision: How One Should Die

The Church does not romanticize death. It prepares for it.

A Catholic death is built on four pillars:

1. Die Reconciled

The Coopers are never given the chance to “put their house in order.” Their children are too busy protecting their own comfort to notice the spiritual needs of their parents.

Catholic dignity demands the opposite:
Confession, Anointing, and Viaticum are not luxuries. They are the final provisions for the journey.

2. Die Accompanied

The film’s emotional violence comes from the couple’s forced separation. Catholic tradition insists that no one should die alone—not physically, not emotionally, not spiritually.

The Coopers’ loneliness is the film’s indictment of modernity.

3. Die Surrendered

Bark and Lucy accept their fate with a heartbreaking gentleness. Their surrender is not Christian surrender—it is resignation. They are not offering their suffering; they are simply enduring it.

The Church invites something deeper:
the conscious offering of one’s final suffering for the salvation of others.

4. Die in Hope

The film ends without hope. There is no eschatology, no promise, no horizon. Just a train pulling away.

Catholic dignity insists that death is not a train to nowhere but a passage into the Father’s house.

IV. The Film’s Prophetic Warning

Make Way for Tomorrow was released in 1937, but it reads like a prophecy of the 21st century:

Nursing homes replacing family care
Adult children overwhelmed by busyness
Elders treated as burdens
Death sanitized, outsourced, and hidden

The film is not about cruelty. It is about the quiet erosion of duty.

Catholic tradition calls this erosion by its true name:
the breakdown of the Fourth Commandment.

V. What the Film Teaches Catholics Today

The film forces a question:
Where will we die, and who will be there?

The Catholic answer is not sentimental. It is architectural:

Die where the sacraments can reach you.
Die where love is present.
Die where you are not alone.
Die in a place shaped by prayer.

This may be a home.
It may be a hospice room turned into a chapel.
It may be a hospital bed surrounded by family praying the Litany of the Saints.

The location matters less than the communion.

VI. The Final Scene as a Secular Memento Mori

The last moments of the film—Bark boarding the train, Lucy waving goodbye—are devastating because they feel unfinished. There is no blessing, no prayer, no ritual, no promise of reunion.

It is a death without the vocabulary of hope.

Catholicism supplies the missing language:

“Go forth, Christian soul.”
“May the angels lead you into paradise.”
“May the martyrs receive you at your coming.”

The Church refuses to let anyone die the way the Coopers are left:
unaccompanied, unblessed, and unseen.

VII. Conclusion: The Film as a Call to Conversion

Make Way for Tomorrow is not merely a critique of family dynamics. It is a call to recover the Catholic art of dying well.

It asks us:

Will we accompany our elders?
Will we prepare for our own death?
Will we build homes where dying is not a crisis but a sacrament?

The Coopers’ tragedy is that they die socially before they die physically.
The Catholic answer is to ensure that no one dies spiritually before they die bodily.

The film shows what happens when a society forgets the dignity of the elderly.
The Church shows what happens when we remember.

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Smoke in This Life and Not the Next

Theme: Friendship & Revelation
Cigar: Aromatic, warm (Cameroon)
Drink: Jefferson’s Ocean — bright, expansive
Virtue: Friendship & Revelation

Reflection:
Rogation Sunday is friendship under resurrection light. Not the soft, sentimental version, but the kind forged by walking boundaries—land, conscience, vocation—and seeing who walks with you when the line gets real. Revelation is not abstract here; it is relational. It shows you who stands beside you when the perimeter is tested.

The Cameroon wrapper fits the day: warm, aromatic, steady—like a friend who doesn’t flinch when the terrain shifts. Jefferson’s Ocean does the same work: bright, expansive, salt‑kissed from its passage. Both remind you that friendship worth keeping is friendship that has weathered something.

Rogation is the Church’s old discipline of asking God to order the land, the work, and the heart. You walk the edges so you can see what needs guarding, what needs pruning, and what needs blessing. You walk so you can learn what is yours to carry and what is yours to surrender.

This is the revelation of Rogation:

not mystical fireworks,
not private visions,
but the clarity that comes from walking the line with Christ beside you.

And if someone wishes you good—truly good—they will offer something with weight. Not sentiment, not vague intention, but intercession with substance.

If you wish me good, offer up for me the bread of the Eucharist this Rogation Sunday—placed before the Lord who orders all things.

Friendship is proven at the boundary. Revelation is received there. And resurrection is walked, not theorized.

HIRED WIFE (1940)

Rosalind Russell • Brian Aherne • Virginia Bruce

A corporate‑romance comedy where efficiency, loyalty, and quick‑thinking collide with the era’s favorite masquerade: the fake marriage that reveals real character. Directed by William A. Seiter, the film showcases Rosalind Russell at full velocity—sharp, stylish, and professionally unflappable—while Brian Aherne plays the polished executive who discovers that the woman he hired to solve a business problem is the only one who can reorder his life.

Sources: walmart.com

1. Production & Historical Setting

Released in 1940 by Universal Pictures, Hired Wife sits at the intersection of:

Pre‑war American optimism — business confidence, corporate ambition, and the belief that competence can solve anything.
Rosalind Russell’s ascendant persona — the intelligent, stylish woman who outpaces every man in the room.
The screwball‑to‑romantic‑comedy transition — still fast, still witty, but with more polish and less chaos.
Office‑era realism — desks, telephones, contracts, and the social choreography of workplace hierarchy.

The world is tight:
boardrooms, apartments, taxis, and the public gaze that makes a fake marriage harder to maintain than a real one.
But the moral terrain is broad—loyalty, ambition, dignity, and the cost of underestimating the woman who keeps your life running.

The cultural backdrop:

Women entering professional spaces with authority
Corporate power games replacing aristocratic ones
Romance emerging from competence rather than fragility
The American workplace as a stage for identity, aspiration, and reinvention

The film’s power lies in its pace: Russell’s verbal precision, Aherne’s polished bewilderment, and the slow realization that the “hired wife” is the only one with real agency.

2. Story Summary

Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne), a successful industrialist, faces a corporate threat that requires immediate legal camouflage: he must appear married to block a takeover.

He turns to his secretary, Kendal Browning (Rosalind Russell):

efficient
loyal
unflappable
and entirely capable of running his life better than he does

She agrees to the arrangement—professionally, briskly, without romantic illusions.

But the masquerade grows complicated:

Public appearances
Social expectations
A jealous rival
A real fiancée who doesn’t appreciate the “temporary” wife
And Kendal’s increasing visibility as the one person who actually understands Stephen

The fake marriage becomes a crucible.
The professional façade cracks.
Affection emerges where efficiency once ruled.

Russell’s performance anchors the film:
competence becomes charm, and charm becomes revelation.

3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances

A. Competence as Virtue
Kendal’s strength is not seduction—it is mastery.
The film honors the dignity of work done well.
B. The Truth Beneath the Masquerade
The fake marriage exposes the real relationship:
who supports whom, who carries the weight, who actually leads.
C. The Awakening of the Blind
Stephen is not malicious—just oblivious.
His arc is the slow recognition of Kendal’s worth.
D. Pride as a Soft Blindfold
He assumes he is the center of the operation.
The story reveals he is the beneficiary of her unseen labor.
E. Love Without Triumph

There is no grand moral victory—just the quiet realization that partnership grows from respect, not performance.

4. Hospitality Pairing — The Executive Desk Spread

A crisp gin highball — clean, efficient, the drink of clarity
A plate of salted almonds — office‑hour fuel, simple and direct
A sharp cheddar on crackers — competence in edible form
A leather desk chair — the throne of the overconfident executive who needs a woman like Kendal to keep him upright

A setting for nights when you want to reflect on work, dignity, and the hidden architecture of loyalty.

5. Reflection Prompts

Where am I relying on someone’s competence without acknowledging it?
What “temporary arrangement” in my life is revealing deeper truth?
How do I treat the people who hold my world together?
What masks do I wear in professional spaces—and what would happen if they slipped?
Where is respect trying to grow into affection, if I would only see it?

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Smoke in This Life and Not the Next

Theme: Bottom Shelf Purgation

Cigar: A cheap, uneven bundle stick—harsh draw, stubborn burn
Drink: Well bourbon poured from the rail—no nuance, just heat and correction
Virtue: Humility through Menial Repetition

Reflection:
Paschasius is the perfect patron of the bottom shelf. Not because he lacked sanctity—St. Gregory is explicit that he was eminent in charity and forgetful of self—but because his purification required something brutally simple: menial labor repeated without complaint. No flames, no visions, no dramatic punishments. Just the baths of St. Angelo and the lowliest tasks, carried out until the soul’s crooked discernment was straightened.

This is the purgation of the bottom shelf:

not exquisite suffering,
not refined spiritual correction,
but the slow sanding-down of pride through ordinary work.

The cheap cigar and the well bourbon match the lesson. They’re not meant to impress. They’re meant to remind. The bottom shelf is where you go when you’ve chosen the wrong party—not out of malice, but out of stubbornness, misplaced loyalty, or the refusal to read the room of Providence. Paschasius wasn’t wicked; he was wrong. And wrongness, when held tightly, must be worked out through humble repetition.

So the smoke is rough. The drink is blunt. The lesson is clear:
God purifies many souls not with fire, but with chores.

And like Paschasius told Germain, the sign of completion is simple:
when the work no longer needs to be done, the worker disappears.

MAY 9 Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Train Day

1 Samuel, Chapter 23, Verse 1-4

David was informed that the Philistines were attacking Keilah and plundering the threshing floors. So he consulted the LORD, asking, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD answered, Go, attack them, and free Keilah. But David’s men said to him: “Even in Judah we have reason to FEAR. How much more so if we go to Keilah against the forces of the Philistines!” Again David consulted the LORD, who answered: Go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your power.

Again, we see David protecting the people; even the people who are friends of Saul. Saul, who, out of his envy, is seeking David and his follower’s deaths. David’s faith makes his actions beyond those of rational fairness; and David’s action show the very mercy of God.

Copilot’s Take

David’s men look at Keilah and see only danger. They see Philistine forces, political instability, and the very real possibility that Saul—who already wants them dead—will use this moment to crush them. Their fear is not irrational; it is simply human. Yet Scripture shows that fear, when left unexamined, becomes a spiritual force that distorts judgment. The Catechism warns that fear becomes morally dangerous when it causes us to shrink from the good we are called to do, because fortitude requires “firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good” (CCC 1808). David’s men calculate the risk. David consults the Lord.

David’s double consultation is not hesitation but obedience. He refuses to act from impulse, bravado, or panic. He wants to move only with God’s clarity. And when the Lord confirms the command, David steps forward into danger not because he is fearless, but because he is faithful. This is the pattern of every righteous leader in Scripture: they do not deny the threat, but they refuse to let the threat define their actions. Their courage is not self-generated; it is received.

What makes David’s decision even more striking is that Keilah is a Judean town loyal to Saul. These are the very people whose king is hunting David like an animal. Yet David protects them anyway. His mercy is not political strategy; it is a revelation of God’s own heart. The Catechism insists that every person—even an adversary—possesses inviolable dignity (CCC 1930–1931). David lives this truth before it is ever written. He refuses to let Saul’s hatred shape his own soul.

This is where the passage touches modern life. You noted that the rhetoric of some political actors today “tastes like” the same spirit that animated Saul—leaders who speak as though their opponents must be destroyed, not debated. That instinct is spiritually perceptive. Across history, whenever fear becomes a political tool, the pattern repeats: dehumanize the opponent, inflame the crowd, justify extreme measures, and claim righteousness while acting unjustly. This is not tied to any one party or nation. It is simply how evil behaves when it gains momentum.

The Church warns against this dynamic. CCC 2303 teaches that hatred, the desire for another’s harm, and the rhetoric that stokes such passions violate the Fifth Commandment. When leaders—religious, political, or cultural—speak in ways that imply opponents are existential threats who must be eliminated, they are walking Saul’s path. And when ordinary people absorb that rhetoric, fear becomes the lens through which they interpret the world. Fear becomes contagious. Fear becomes justification. Fear becomes a moral fog.

David shows the antidote. He acts from obedience, not fear. He protects even those who would not protect him. He refuses to mirror the violence aimed at him. He confronts evil without becoming evil. In a world where many voices urge us to destroy our adversaries, David reminds us that the righteous fight evil, not people; confront lies, not souls; defend the innocent, not their own egos. His question remains the only question that gives clarity: “Lord, shall I go?”

And the Lord’s answer remains the only answer that gives courage: “Go. I will deliver.”

Train Day[1]

They cross thousands of miles across the countryside all over the world, transporting goods and passengers to places far-flung, and bringing back the same to their point of origin. Two gleaming lines of silver lay their path, as they move through cities and forests, mountains and plains to bring everything to those who need it, whether it’s cargo or people. Of course, we’re talking about trains, those powerful machines that inspired so much of history and have done amazing things for economies and industry all over the world. Train Day commemorates these wonderful machines and the role they play in our lives.

History of Train Day

The history of Train Day is the history of trains, and that history goes back farther than you might suspect. Railroads were actually a progression from wagonways, which were essentially railroads powered by horse, and have a history going back over 2000 years. The reason wagonways (and of course railways) came into existence was one of simple practicality, you could transport larger loads over a greater distance with prepared paths! The first ‘ways’ weren’t even created with metal rails, they were instead created with wooden rails, and in the distance, path even cut-stone tracks. By being carefully prepared you could increase the amount a single horse could haul from one ton to nearly 13 tons! That’s a huge improvement in cargo capacity and a huge boon to those who have to move a lot of it a goodly distance. Of course, with wooden rails they had to be often replaced and so it became common practice to cover them with a thin metal plate to help the wood last. The industrial revolution changed all that, and metal rails are here to stay! And then in 2008 Amtrak established Train Day to help celebrate the history of the locomotive.

How to Celebrate Train Day

The best way to celebrate train day is to go out and take a ride on a train! It doesn’t matter where it’s going, riding a train can be a fantastic and relaxing experience. Some towns have steam trains that are part of their history and still in operation, and dinner trains are always a nice experience. Or, if you’re planning on taking a trip, rather than taking a car or plane, take a train for a relaxing ride across the country. Train Day is a great chance to go out and see the world and experience these amazing vehicles.

Must Take Train Trips[2]top ten count down

1. The Canadian operated by VIA Rail is considered one of the finest trains in Canada, offering a panoramic window into the vastness of the nation. Running between Toronto and Vancouver, this 4,466‑km journey unfolds over four nights and five days, carrying travelers past waterfalls, golden prairie fields, and the towering Canadian Rockies. With Prestige, Sleeper Plus, and Economy classes, along with elegant lounges and spacious compartments, the train provides comfort for every budget.

2. The Rocky Mountaineer, following the historic Canadian Pacific route, is another Canadian masterpiece of rail travel. Its journeys through the Canadian Rockies into Western Canada are filled with unforgettable scenery—from lava cliffs to deep canyons and glacier‑fed rivers. Wildlife sightings are common, including bighorn sheep and the occasional bear. The best views are found in the Gold Leaf dome‑car service, where passengers sit beneath a sweeping glass canopy. More information is available at the official Rocky Mountaineer site.

3. In the United States, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad remains one of the world’s best‑preserved heritage railways. Operating continuously since 1881, this steam‑driven train runs on a three‑foot narrow‑gauge track for 45.2 miles between Durango and Silverton in Colorado. Originally built to transport gold and silver from the San Juan Mountains, it now offers travelers a historic and scenic ride through rugged wilderness. Details can be found at the Durango Train website.

4. The California Zephyr, operated by Amtrak, is one of the longest and most scenic rail journeys in the United States. Running between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, it crosses seven states and passes through the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, Glenwood Canyon, Winter Park, and the Moffat Tunnel. Many consider it the most beautiful long‑distance train ride in North America. Schedules and information are available at the California Zephyr page.

5. Another American classic is the Coast Starlight, connecting Los Angeles and Seattle along a route that hugs the Pacific coastline for long stretches. Passing through Santa Barbara, Sacramento, and the Bay Area, the train offers views of snow‑capped mountains, lush forests, and serene ocean vistas. While not the most luxurious train on this list, the scenery more than compensates. More details are available at the Coast Starlight page.

6. Arizona’s own Grand Canyon Railway provides a unique and nostalgic journey from Williams to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Featuring vintage 1920s Pullman cars and a 1950s‑era café car, this 130‑mile route offers sweeping views of high desert, pine forest, and the canyon’s iconic cliffs. It remains one of the most memorable ways to approach the Grand Canyon. Information is available at The Train.

7. Farther north, the Denali Star of the Alaska Railroad carries passengers between Anchorage and Fairbanks along one of the most dramatic wilderness routes in the world. Double‑deck dome cars offer unmatched views of Denali, braided rivers, tundra, and abundant wildlife including moose and grizzly bears. This journey is a highlight of any Alaskan adventure. Details can be found at the Alaska Railroad.

8. In Peru, the Hiram Bingham luxury train operated by Belmond carries travelers from Cusco to Machu Picchu in 1920s‑style elegance. The journey follows the Urubamba River through high plains and agricultural terraces before reaching the Inca citadel. At 7,500 feet above sea level, altitude can be a factor, and oxygen is available onboard. More information is available at the Hiram Bingham page.

9. Germany’s Rhine Valley Line, operated by Deutsche Bahn, offers one of Europe’s most picturesque short rail journeys. Running from Mainz to Koblenz in under three hours, the route follows the Rhine River past medieval castles, vineyards, and fortress‑crowned hills. Though only 62 miles long, it delivers postcard‑worthy scenery at every turn. Schedules can be found at Deutsche Bahn.

10. Finally, the legendary Venice Simplon‑Orient‑Express, operated by Belmond, remains the most glamorous train in the world. Running between Venice, Paris, London, and seasonal European destinations, it features Art Deco interiors designed by masters such as René Lalique. With gourmet meals and meticulously restored carriages, it offers a timeless pre‑modern travel experience through Europe’s most beautiful landscapes. More information is available at the Venice Simplon‑Orient‑Express page.

Bible in a year Day 308 Little by Little

Fr. Mike highlights how God fights as a heavenly ally with the people of Israel in 2 Maccabees 11, and encourages us to actively fight alongside God in our daily battles. In our reading of Wisdom, Father points out how God corrects us little by little so we can learn to trust him. Today’s readings are 2 Maccabees 11, Wisdom 11-12, and Proverbs 25:8-10.

THIS WE BELIEVE

PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Prayer before Mass

Lord, Jesus Christ, I approach your banquet table in fear and trembling, for I am a sinner, and dare not rely on my own worth but only on your goodness and mercy. I am defiled by many sins in body and soul, and by my unguarded thoughts and words. Gracious God of majesty and awe, I seek your protection, I look for your healing, poor troubled sinner that I am, I appeal to you, the fountain of all mercy. I cannot bear your judgment, but I trust in your salvation. Lord, I show my wounds to you and uncover my shame before you. I know my sins are many and great, and they fill me with fear, but I hope in your mercies, for they cannot be numbered. Lord Jesus Christ, eternal King, God and man, crucified for mankind, look upon me with mercy and hear my prayer, for I trust in you. Have mercy on me, full of sorrow and sin, for the depth of your compassion never ends. Praise to you, saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind. Praise to the noble and precious blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, your creature, whom you have redeemed with your blood. I repent my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the holy of holies. May your body and blood, which I intend to receive, although I am unworthy, be for me the remission of my sins, the washing away of my guilt, the end of my evil thoughts, and the rebirth of my better instincts. May it incite me to do the works pleasing to you and profitable to my health in body and soul, and be a firm defense against the wiles of my enemies. Amen.

Around the Corner

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the Food of our Salvation (Psalm 68:19)

· desert ridge marketplace is pleased to present villa fleur: a lavish pop-up experience specially crafted to celebrate spring.

o villa fleur will captivate guests transcending them into an eclectic atmosphere of rich prints and bold textures, striking visuals and lush florals. set under romantic lighting, guests will settle into parlor-style seating designed to ignite the senses while enjoying chef-driven fare and elixirs and a state-of-the-art projection show designed exclusively for villa fleur. this rare journey is available for a limited time from March 14 – May 11.

· Catholic Activity: Religion in the Home for Preschool: May

· Bucket List trip: Copenhagen

· Spirit Hour: Moscato Wine

· Foodie: Chicken Kiev

Fun things to do.

Go to Slide Rock

Beware of others’ butts when in the water!

Relaxing Getaway

Wine. Dine. Unwind. Retail therapy and aromatherapy are both on the agenda during this circuit of Greater Phoenix’s plentiful people pleasures.

Day 1: Phoenix spa day

Rejuvenate after your travels with a day at one of Phoenix’s premier destination spas, such as the Alvadora Spa or the Joya Spa .

Let the elements of the desert heal and rejuvenate with a spa treatment inspired by the local landscape.

Day 2: Retail therapy

Stroll beneath the palms in a sprawling shopper’s paradise at Biltmore Fashion Park or Kierland Commons, and splurge on couture at Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Take home a thoughtful gift from a local boutique such as MADE Art Boutique, downtown’s Bunky Boutique or one of these other shops selling local goods.

Day 3: Wine tours, scotch tastings, craft beer

Tour and taste your way through Arizona’s wineries on a short-day trip from Phoenix.

If you’re not a fan of reds and whites, just browse the shelves of Westin Kierland’s extensive Scotch Library, or hop on a ride with Arizona Brewery Tours to explore Phoenix's craft beer scene.

The Scotch Library at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa

Day 4: A day by the pool and fine dining

Don’t leave America’s sunniest metropolis without spending a little time poolside. From serene settings to wild water parks, we've got a resort pool to fit your style.

Cap your getaway with fine fare just steps away from your pool chair at Phoenix resort restaurants such as Prado Restaurant and Mbar at the Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia and elements at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, A Gurney's Resort & Spa.

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Purity

· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Make reparations to the Holy Face

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Universal Man Plan

[1] https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/train-day/

[2]https://www.vacationsbyrail.com/train-travel-resources/traveling-by-train/tips-and-advice/25-must-take-train-trips

SABOTAGE (1936)

Sylvia Sidney • Oscar Homolka • Desmond Tester

A London‑set thriller where domestic innocence collides with ideological violence. Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, the film marks Hitchcock’s first fully mature confrontation with terror hidden inside the ordinary. No glamour. No espionage chic. Just the moral corrosion of a man who brings danger into his own home—and the woman who slowly sees the truth.

1. Production & Historical Setting

Released in 1936 by Gaumont‑British and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Sabotage stands at the crossroads of:

Pre‑war anxiety — Europe simmering with political extremism and shadow networks
Hitchcock’s early psychological realism — domestic spaces as pressure chambers
Sylvia Sidney’s American emotional clarity — luminous, wounded, morally awake
Oscar Homolka’s European menace — a villain built on secrecy, cowardice, and ideological rot

The film’s world is tight: a small London cinema, crowded streets, a kitchen table, a bus route. But the moral terrain is vast—trust, betrayal, culpability, and the cost of refusing to confront evil.

The cultural backdrop:

A continent drifting toward conflict
Terrorism as bureaucracy rather than spectacle
Women carrying the emotional weight of men’s compromises
Ordinary life constantly interrupted by political violence

The film’s power lies in its restraint: a wife, a husband, a boy with a package, and the dread that grows as the clock runs down.

2. Story Summary

Karl Verloc (Oscar Homolka), owner of a small London cinema, is secretly working for a foreign sabotage ring. His wife (Sylvia Sidney) senses something wrong—late nights, evasions, unexplained money, a spiritual heaviness in the home.

A bomb is placed in the hands of her young brother, Stevie (Desmond Tester), who unknowingly carries it across London.

Delays pile up.
Crowds slow him.
The city’s ordinary life becomes a gauntlet.

The bomb explodes.
The boy dies.

The marriage collapses under the weight of truth.
Sidney’s grief becomes moral clarity.
Verloc’s cowardice becomes unmistakable.

Hitchcock refuses melodrama.
He lets the domestic sphere bear the full moral cost.

3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances

A. Evil Hides in the Ordinary
Verloc is not a mastermind—he is a small man doing the bidding of larger forces.
Evil often enters the home through compromise, secrecy, and passivity.
B. Innocence as Collateral
Stevie’s death is Hitchcock’s most ruthless early statement:
the innocent often carry the consequences of another man’s moral weakness.
C. The Awakening of the Righteous
Sylvia Sidney’s character becomes the film’s conscience.
Her grief clarifies what her loyalty had blurred.
D. Cowardice as a Spiritual Disease
Verloc’s sin is not ideology—it is refusal to take responsibility.
His sabotage is simply the outward form of an inward collapse.
E. Justice Without Triumph
There is no heroic ending.

Only the sober recognition that evil must be confronted, not tolerated.

4. Hospitality Pairing — The London Cinema Counter

A cup of strong English tea — the drink of shock, steadiness, and moral awakening
A paper‑wrapped fish‑and‑chips parcel — ordinary London life interrupted
A nip of gin — sharp, medicinal, the taste of bracing truth
A wooden cinema seat — cramped, worn, the setting of Verloc’s double life

A setting for nights when you want to reflect on vigilance, domestic courage, and the cost of ignoring what you already know.

5. Reflection Prompts

Where am I tolerating a small compromise that could grow into real harm?
What signs of moral danger have I been slow to acknowledge?
Who bears the cost when I avoid difficult truths?
How do I cultivate the courage to confront evil early, before it reaches my home?
What does justice look like when the damage cannot be undone?

Friday, May 8, 2026

Feast of St. Joseph the Worker May 1

Smoke in This Life and Not the Next

Friday, May 8
The Virtue: Purification Through Constancy

Tonight’s Pairing

Cigar: A firm‑pressed Maduro — slow, disciplined, the kind of leaf that forces a man to stay with the burn
Drink: A straight rye — sharp, clarifying, the drink of men who refuse to soften the truth

Reason: tonight is about the truth that follows a man, the truth he cannot outrun, the truth God purifies not with spectacle but with steady, unrelenting correction.

The Reflection

Purgatory is not the furnace of the wicked
but the workshop of the unfinished—
the place where God refuses to let a man enter Heaven
with half‑formed virtues
or uncorrected loyalties.

St. Gregory gives us the pattern again in Paschasius,
the deacon whose charity was real,
whose doctrine was sound,
whose sanctity was confirmed by miracles—
and who still found himself laboring after death
in the heat of the baths,
performing the low work
that matched the low place
where his judgment had failed.

His fault was not rebellion.
Not pride.
Not corruption.
It was constancy misplaced—
remaining loyal to the wrong men,
standing firm in the wrong camp,
holding his ground where truth did not stand with him.

When he appeared to Germain of Capua,
he did not justify himself.
He did not reinterpret events.
He did not negotiate.
He simply said:
“I here expiate the wrong I did.”

No drama.
No self‑defense.
Just a soul under correction,
accepting the truth he had avoided in life.

This is the fire of May 8:
not the fire that destroys,
but the fire that finishes—
the fire that burns away the stubborn parts of a man
that refuse to be taught.

The Maduro fits the lesson:
slow, steady, unhurried—
the kind of smoke that forces a man
to stay where he is
until the work is done.

The rye matches it:
sharp, clean, uncompromising—
the drink of a man who wants to be true
more than he wants to be comfortable.

The law is the same for every man:
God purifies not only our sins
but our misplaced loyalties,
our unfinished virtues,
our half‑formed constancy.

Better to let the steady fire do its work now.

Purgatory Note

Paschasius was not broken by violence
but shaped by repetition—
the quiet, humbling labor
that burns away self‑trust
and restores right allegiance.

His purification ended
the moment Germain’s prayer
completed the last stroke of the chisel.
No spectacle.
No thunder.
Just absence—
the silence of a soul finally aligned.

Better to take the steady smoke now.
Better to drink the sharp rye now.
Better to let constancy be corrected now—
and not the next.

MAY 8 Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Apparition of St. Michael

1 SAMUEL, Chapter 22, Verse 23

Stay with me. Do not be AFRAID; whoever seeks your life must seek my life also. You are under my protection.”

David said this to Abiathar: the sole survivor of Eli’s household which Saul killed for giving aid to David. David now has in his service the only priest of the Lord left in the land and exclusive access to the ephod for consulting the Lord. David later appoints Abiathar co-high priest with Zadok in Jerusalem.

Yet, when I read this verse, I hear the Lord saying this to us all-Stay with me-do not be afraid. Today, go to the Blessed Sacrament and spend some time with the Lord. There our Lord will pull us to Himself and transform us into warriors and conquerors. Draw near to Him and He will transform your disenchantment with the world and help you along the road to holiness and sainthood.

Our lives are songs; God writes the words and we set them to music at pleasure; and the song grows glad, or sweet or sad, as we choose to fashion the measure.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Copilot’s Take

On May 8 the Church remembers the Apparition of St. Michael on Monte Gargano, the ancient sign that the invisible battle is real and that heaven does not abandon its own. Michael’s intervention was not spectacle but command: stand firm, invoke God, and fight the right enemy. The cave he consecrated became a sanctuary precisely because it had been a battlefield, revealing the pattern that conflict, when surrendered to God, becomes consecration.

Into this frame comes David’s word to Abiathar—“Stay with me. Do not be afraid… you are under my protection.” Abiathar, the lone survivor of Saul’s slaughter of the priests, arrives as a fugitive, yet David receives him as a charge. Beneath David’s voice is the deeper voice of the Lord, whose providence is not passive oversight but active governance (CCC 302–314). A man becomes a refuge only because he himself stands under the refuge of God.

The Church is unambiguous about the nature of the enemy. Evil is not an abstraction or a mood; it is personal, intelligent, and opposed to God’s plan (CCC 391–395). Modern culture tries to psychologize or politicize evil, but Scripture refuses that reduction. The battle is older than nations and deeper than ideologies. Michael’s feast reminds a man that his first task is to recognize the field on which he stands.

David’s command—stay with me, do not be afraid—is fulfilled in Christ, who speaks the same word from the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament is not escape; it is formation. A man who kneels before the Lord learns the only courage that endures: courage rooted in obedience. Before he confronts the world, he must confront God. Before he resists evil, he must submit to grace. Before he becomes a protector, he must be protected.

This is why time before the Blessed Sacrament is essential for a man who intends to live awake. There the Lord pulls him close, strips away the fog of disenchantment, and rebuilds him from the inside out. The world trains men to react; Christ trains men to stand. The world forms consumers; Christ forms warriors. The world exhausts; Christ restores. Holiness becomes a posture learned only in His presence.

Michael’s apparition teaches that God consecrates the very places where a man has been threatened. The cave becomes a sanctuary. The wound becomes a witness. The battlefield becomes the altar. This is the masculine pattern of sanctification: not escape from conflict but transformation through it. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote, “Our lives are songs; God writes the words and we set them to music at pleasure.” The measure a man chooses determines the strength of the song.

So on this May 8, hear the Lord’s voice beneath David’s: Stay with Me. Do not be afraid. Draw near to the Eucharist. Let Him make you a man who stands his ground, confronts evil without flinching, and carries the quiet authority of one who knows he is under the protection of the living God.

Apparition of St. Michael[1]

It is evident from Holy Scripture that God is pleased to make frequent use of the ministry of the heavenly spirits in the dispensations of His providence in this world. The Angels are all pure spirits; by a property of their nature, they are immortal, as is every spirit. They have the power of moving or conveying themselves at will from place to place, and such is their activity that it is not easy for us to conceive of it. Among the holy Archangels, Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are particularly distinguished in the Scriptures. Saint Michael, whose name means Who is like unto God? is the prince of the faithful Angels who opposed Lucifer and his followers in their revolt against God.

Since the devil is the sworn enemy of God’s holy Church, Saint Michael is given to it by God as its special protector against the demon’s assaults and stratagems.

Various apparitions of this powerful Angel have proved the protection of Saint Michael over the Church. We may mention his apparition in Rome, where Saint Gregory the Great saw him in the air sheathing his sword, to signal the cessation of a pestilence and the appeasement of God’s wrath. Another apparition to Saint Ausbert, bishop of Avranches in France, led to the construction of Mont-Saint-Michel in the sea, a famous pilgrimage site. May 8^th, however, is destined to recall another no less marvelous apparition, occurring near Monte Gargano in the Kingdom of Naples.

In the year 492 a man named Gargan was pasturing his large herds in the countryside. One day a bull fled to the mountain, where it could not be found. When its refuge in a cave was discovered, an arrow was shot into the cave, but the arrow returned to wound the one who had sent it. Faced with this mysterious occurrence, the persons concerned decided to consult the bishop of the region. He ordered three days of fasting and prayers. After three days, the Archangel Michael appeared to the bishop and declared that the cavern where the bull had taken refuge was under his protection, and that God wanted it to be consecrated under his name and in honor of all the Holy Angels.

Accompanied by his clergy and people, the pontiff went to that cavern, which he found already disposed in the form of a church. The divine mysteries were celebrated there, and there arose in this same place a magnificent temple where the divine Power has wrought great miracles. To thank God’s adorable goodness for the protection of the holy Archangel, the effect of His merciful Providence, this feast day was instituted by the Church in his honor.

It is said of this special guardian and protector of the Church that, during the final persecution of Antichrist, he will powerfully defend it: “At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince who protects the children of thy people.”

Judgment Day[2]

How will the Last Judgment begin?

At the command of God, the angels, with the sound of the trumpet, shall summon all men to judgment (i. These, iv. 15). The bodies and souls of the dead shall be again united, and the wicked shall be separated from the righteous, the just on the right, the wicked on the left (St. Matt. xxv. 33). The angels and the devils will be present, and Christ Himself will appear in a bright cloud with such power and majesty that the wicked, for fear, will not be able to look at Him, but will say to the mountains, “Fall on us,” and to the hills, “Cover us” (St. Luke xxiii. 30).

Why will God hold a general and public judgment?

1. That all may know how just He has been in the particular judgment of each one.

2. That justice may at last be rendered to the afflicted and persecuted, while the wicked who have oppressed the poor, the widow, the orphan, the religious, and yet have often passed for upright and devout persons, may be known in their real characters and be forever disgraced.

3. That Jesus Christ may complete His redemption, and openly triumph over His enemies, who shall see the glory of the Crucified, and tremble at His power.

How will the Last Judgment proceed?

The books will be opened, and from them all men will be judged; all their good and bad thoughts, words, and deeds, even the most secret, known only to God, will be revealed before the whole world, and according to their works men will be rewarded or be damned forever. The wicked shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting (St. Matt. xxv.46).

Bible in a year Day 307 Courage in Battle

Today, Fr. Mike discusses the confidence that faith in God can provide as we fight the battles of our lives. He also engages with the riddles found in Wisdom 10 and points out that we can now not only understand the characters, stories, and allusions of Scripture, but can recognize the fingerprints of God in the world around us and better understand the main character of Scripture: God. Today’s readings are 2 Maccabees 10, Wisdom 9-10, and Proverbs 25:4-7.

THIS WE BELIEVE

PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Mass

“Why should I go to Mass every day?”

The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer! (Pope Paul VI).

For each Mass we attend with devotion, Our Lord sends a saint to comfort us at death. (Revelation of Christ to St. Gertrude the Great)

St. Padre Pio, the stigmatic priest, said, “The world could exist more easily without the sun than without the Mass.”

The Cure d’Ars, St. Jean Vianney, said, “If we knew the value of the Mass, we would die of joy.”

Once, St. Teresa was overwhelmed with God’s goodness and asked Our Lord, “How can I thank you?” Our Lord replied, “Attend one Mass.”

Fitness Friday

Modern populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially isolated.[3]

6 Common Depression Traps to Avoid-Expert advice on how to sidestep pitfalls that often accompany depression.[4]

Trap #1: Social Withdrawal

Trap #2: Rumination

Trap #3: Self-Medicating with Alcohol

Trap #4: Skipping Exercise

When Orion Lyonesse is getting depressed, she turns into a hermit. She doesn't want to leave the house (not even to pick up the mail), and she cuts off contact with her friends and family.

"The more I'm alone, the deeper the depression gets," Lyonesse, an artist and writer in Lake Stevens, Wash., tells WebMD in an email. "I don't even want to cuddle my cats!"

Avoiding social contact is a common pattern you might notice when falling into depression. Some people skip activities they normally enjoy and isolate themselves from the world. Others turn to alcohol or junk food to mask their pain and unhappiness.

Depression traps vary from person to person, but what they have in common is that they can serve to worsen your mood, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Here are six behavioral pitfalls that often accompany depression -- and how you can steer clear of them as you and your doctor and therapist work on getting back on track.

Trap #1: Social Withdrawal

Social withdrawal is the most common telltale sign of depression.

"When we're clinically depressed, there's a very strong urge to pull away from others and to shut down," says Stephen Ilardi, PhD, author of books including The Depression Cure and associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas. "It turns out to be the exact opposite of what we need."

"In depression, social isolation typically serves to worsen the illness and how we feel," Ilardi says. "Social withdrawal amplifies the brain's stress response. Social contact helps put the brakes on it."

The Fix: Gradually counteract social withdrawal by reaching out to your friends and family. Make a list of the people in your life you want to reconnect with and start by scheduling an activity.

Trap #2: Rumination

A major component of depression is rumination, which involves dwelling and brooding about themes like loss and failure that cause you to feel worse about yourself.

Rumination is a toxic process that leads to negative self-talk such as, "It's my own fault. Who would ever want me a friend?"

Can a Routine Prevent Bipolar Depressive Episodes?

"There's a saying, 'When you're in your own mind, you're in enemy territory,'" says Mark Goulston, MD, psychiatrist and author of Get Out of Your Own Way. "You leave yourself open to those thoughts and the danger is believing them."

Rumination can also cause you to interpret neutral events in a negative fashion. For example, when you're buying groceries, you may notice that the checkout person smiles at the person in front of you but doesn't smile at you, so you perceive it as a slight.

"When people are clinically depressed, they will typically spend a lot of time and energy rehearsing negative thoughts, often for long stretches of time," Ilardi says.

The Fix: Redirect your attention to a more absorbing activity, like a social engagement or reading a book.

Trap #3: Self-Medicating with Alcohol

Turning to alcohol or drugs to escape your woes is a pattern that can accompany depression, and it usually causes your depression to get worse.

Alcohol can sometimes relieve a little anxiety, especially social anxiety, but it has a depressing effect on the central nervous system, Goulston says. Plus, it can screw up your sleep.

"It's like a lot of things that we do to cope with feeling bad," he says. "They often make us feel better momentary, but in the long run, they hurt us."

The Fix: Talk to your doctor or therapist if you notice that your drinking habits are making you feel worse. Alcohol can interfere with antidepressants and anxiety medications.

Trap #4: Skipping Exercise

If you're the type of person who likes to go the gym regularly, dropping a series of workouts could signal that something's amiss in your life. The same goes for passing on activities -- such as swimming, yoga, or ballroom dancing -- that you once enjoyed.

When you're depressed, it's unlikely that you'll keep up with a regular exercise program, even though that may be just what the doctor ordered.

Exercise can be enormously therapeutic and beneficial, Ilardi says. Exercise has a powerful antidepressant effect because it boosts levels of serotonin and dopamine, two brain chemicals that often ebb when you're depressed.

3 Ways to Manage a Major Depressive Disorder Episode

"It's a paradoxical situation," Ilardi says. "Your body is capable of physical activity. The problem is your brain is not capable of initiating and getting you to do it."

The Fix: Ilardi recommends finding someone you can trust to help you initiate exercise -- a personal trainer, coach, or even a loved one. "It has to be someone who gets it, who is not going to nag you, but actually give you that prompting and encouragement and accountability," Ilardi says.

Trap #5: Seeking Sugar Highs

When you're feeling down, you may find yourself craving sweets or junk food high in carbs and sugar.

Sugar does have mild mood-elevating properties, says Ilardi, but it's only temporary. Within two hours, blood glucose levels crash, which has a mood-depressing effect.

The Fix: Avoid sugar highs and the inevitable post-sugar crash. It's always wise to eat healthfully, but now more than ever, your mood can't afford to take the hit.

Trap #6: Negative Thinking

When you're depressed, you're prone to negative thinking and talking yourself out of trying new things.

You might say to yourself, "Well, even if I did A, B, and C, it probably wouldn't make me feel any better and it would be a real hassle, so why bother trying at all?"

"That's a huge trap," says Goulston. "If you race ahead and anticipate a negative result, which then causes you to stop trying at all, that is something that will rapidly accelerate your depression and deepen it."

The Fix: Don't get too attached to grim expectations. "You have more control over doing and not doing, than you have over what the result of actions will be," Goulston says. "But there is a much greater chance that if you do, then those results will be positive."

Around the Corner-Mary’s Month-Do a family Rosary

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”

(Matthew 2:1-2)

· World Donkey Day-Animal’s not politicians

· Bucket List trip: Virgin of Luján

· Spirit Hour: Rum and Coke

Try coconut cream pie

· Children’s Book Week

· Iceman’s 40 devotion

· Get an indulgence

· Operation Purity

Daily Devotions

· Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: Protection of Traditional Marriage

· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Make reparations to the Holy Face

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Universal Man Plan

[1]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-05-08

[2]Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3330161/

[4] https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/depression-traps-and-pitfalls

SEVEN DAYS LEAVE (1930)

Gary Cooper • Beryl Mercer • Daisy Belmore

A Pre‑Code wartime drama built on compassion, identity, and the quiet heroism of ordinary people. Adapted from J.M. Barrie’s The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, the film pairs Gary Cooper’s understated sincerity with Beryl Mercer’s devastatingly human performance. No spectacle. No propaganda. Just the moral weight of kindness offered under fire.

1. Production & Historical Setting

Released in 1930 by Paramount Pictures, directed by Richard Wallace, Seven Days Leave sits at the intersection of:

Pre‑Code emotional candor — grief, loneliness, and moral ambiguity shown without the later Code’s sanitizing hand
Post‑WWI realism — the lingering wounds of the Great War, both physical and psychological
Early Cooper naturalism — quiet, unforced, almost modern in its restraint
Beryl Mercer’s stage‑honed gravity — reprising her role from the 1917 play with surgical emotional precision

The film’s world is small: London streets, YMCA rooms, a widow’s cramped flat. But the emotional terrain is large—identity, consolation, sacrifice, and the cost of truth.

The cultural backdrop:

A generation marked by loss and dislocation
Soldiers carrying invisible wounds
Women surviving through imagination, memory, and borrowed hope
Patriotism without triumphalism—duty as burden, not banner

The film’s power lies in its simplicity: a soldier, a widow, a lie told in mercy, and the truth that follows.

2. Story Summary

A wounded Canadian soldier, Private Kenneth (Gary Cooper), is recovering in London. A YMCA worker tells him that a lonely Scottish widow, Sarah Ann Dowey (Beryl Mercer), believes—without evidence—that he is her son.

He agrees to play the part to comfort her.

What begins as a small kindness becomes a bond:

She gains a son she never had
He gains a place where he is wanted
Their shared fiction becomes a shared dignity

But the war calls him back.
He returns to the front.
He dies in action.

The medals arrive at the widow’s door.
She receives them as a mother—
and the film refuses to correct her.

The lie becomes a mercy.
The mercy becomes a truth.

3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances

A. Compassion as Moral Risk

The soldier’s choice is not “right” in a legal sense—
but it is righteous in a human one.
Mercy outruns precision.

B. Identity Given, Not Claimed

He becomes her son not by blood
but by gift—
a reminder that belonging can be chosen.

C. The Dignity of Consolation

The widow’s life is small,
but her capacity for love is immense.
The film honors that without irony.

D. Sacrifice Without Applause

His final act is not heroic in the cinematic sense—
it is simply duty fulfilled,
quietly, without witnesses.

E. Truth That Heals Rather Than Wounds

The film refuses to “correct” the widow.
Some truths are too sharp for the living.
Mercy becomes the higher accuracy.

4. Hospitality Pairing — The Widow’s Table

A cup of black tea — humble, steady, the drink of grief and hospitality
A slice of simple bread with butter — the food of wartime rationing, offered with love
A small dram of Scotch — not celebratory, but consoling
A wooden chair by a dim lamp — the atmosphere of Mercer’s London flat

A setting for nights when you want to reflect on compassion, duty, and the moral weight of small mercies.

5. Reflection Prompts

Where am I being asked to offer mercy rather than precision?
Who in my life needs consolation more than correction?
What identity am I being asked to “step into” for the sake of another’s dignity?
Where is sacrifice quiet, unseen, and still required of me?
How do I discern when a small lie becomes a large mercy?