This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Vincit qui se vincit" is a Latin phrase meaning "He conquers who conquers himself." Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. "
Saturday, May 2 Kentucky Derby Day Virtue Under the Knife: Temperance & Clarity
Tonight’s Pairing
Cigar: a cheap, honest yard‑gar — rough, unpolished, a reminder of what’s at stake Drink: bottom‑shelf bourbon — sharp, thin, the taste of unserious living Reason: tonight is about refusing the drift that Derby Day normalizes
The Reflection
St. Lidwina was shown prisons that dwarfed every earthly fortress — black walls, roaring fires, and the cries of souls who had treated life lightly. These were not the monstrous sinners. They were the casual ones. The drifters. The men who lived by mood, appetite, and impulse. The ones who never meant to offend God, but never meant to serve Him either.
Her angel led her past chambers of fire and pits of ice, but the most terrible place was reserved for the inattentive — souls who had floated through life the way men float through Derby Day: laughing, drinking, wagering, drifting. Not wicked. Just unguarded. And unguarded souls pay in slow fire.
They had touched every fault lightly, so they tasted every chastisement lightly — a little darkness, a little flame, a little regret. No single chain, just a thousand small cords tightening at once. Lidwina saw what happens when a man refuses to master his appetites: the appetites master him.
Derby Day is America’s annual permission slip for drift — a day when men pretend that excess is culture and indulgence is tradition. But the saint’s vision cuts through the noise. She saw the cost of unserious living. She saw the weight of “harmless fun.” She saw the danger of a life where pleasure is taken but never offered.
Her angel did not show her these prisons to frighten her.
He showed them so she would detest the small stains that men excuse.
Tonight’s smoke is not about the Derby.
It is about the man holding the match.
Temperance is not abstinence — it is mastery.
Clarity is not sobriety — it is purpose.
Holiness is not spectacle — it is refusal to drift.
Guard the appetite.
Guard the mind.
Guard the day.
Purgatory Note
The souls Lidwina saw were purified not by a single fire but by many small ones, because their faults were scattered across the whole field of life. Their purification was not violent, but it was relentless — the slow correction of men who never learned to say no to themselves.
Better to take the cheap smoke now.
Better to taste the thin bourbon now.
Better to practice mastery now — and not the next.
Wednesday, May 1 St. Joseph the Worker Virtue Under the Knife: Dignity & Labor
Tonight’s Pairing
Cigar: a structured, humble Habano — steady, honest, built for work Bourbon: Old Forester 1920 — bold, historic, the backbone of American craft Reason: tonight is about consecrating labor, not escaping it
The Reflection
In the final station of her vision, the saint was shown a dungeon unlike the others. It was not the pit of the proud, nor the stench of the impure, nor the furnace of the ambitious. It was the place of the unguarded — souls who had not embraced any single vice, yet had allowed a thousand small faults to slip through the cracks of daily life.
They were not hardened sinners.
They were not rebels.
They were simply men and women who treated the ordinary duties of life as optional.
Because they touched every fault lightly, they tasted every chastisement lightly — a share in all, a mastery of none. Their suffering was not the violence of a single chain but the slow tightening of many small cords. The saint saw what happens when a soul refuses to sanctify the small things.
These were the souls who worked sometimes, prayed sometimes, offered themselves sometimes — but never built the interior discipline that turns labor into prayer. They were not wicked. They were simply inattentive. And inattentive souls bleed slowly.
When she left that last station, she begged God never to show it to her again. Not because it was grotesque, but because it was true. She saw the cost of spiritual drift. She saw the weight of “small sins.” She saw the danger of a life where work is merely endured, not offered.
And Christ answered her:
He revealed these prisons so she would learn His holiness — and detest even the smallest stain.
On the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the lesson sharpens. Joseph did not drift. He did not treat labor as punishment or as a way to earn applause. He kept the long watch. He guarded the silence. He carried the weight of the hidden life with precision, not passivity. He mastered the small things so the small things never mastered him.
Tonight’s smoke is not about fear — it’s about craftsmanship of the soul.
The dignity that turns labor into offering.
The discipline that turns work into prayer.
The steady, working‑man holiness that Joseph lived without applause.
Guard the small gates.
Sanctify the small tasks.
Offer the small work.
Purgatory Note
Purgatory is mercy, not vengeance — but mercy is not softness. The souls who neglected the sanctification of their daily labor are purified with a measured share of every fire, because their faults touched every corner of life. Their purification is not violent, but it is relentless. It is the slow, exacting correction of a life where work was never offered, only endured.
Better to wake up now.
Better to choose discipline now.
Better to take the humble smoke now — and not the next.
May 1 — First Friday
The Three Hearts with St. George
Phase II: Jesus Strengthens and Sends the Heart
The Sacred Heart begins the strengthening phase by placing the disciple back into the arena. The purified heart from the Marian months is no longer sheltered; it is now trained for impact. On this First Friday, Christ does not ask for comfort—He asks for courage. He hands the heart its mission and expects it to stand.
The Three Hearts move in formation:
Mary keeps the heart clean.
Joseph keeps the heart steady.
Jesus drives the heart forward.
Today the emphasis is strength—loving God with all your strength, soul, and heart—the Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous Mysteries braided into one disciplined ascent.
St. George — Courage in Battle
St. George stands at the head of the Nine Exterior Defenders because courage is the first requirement of mission. A man cannot carry Christ into the world if he collapses at the first sign of resistance. George teaches the heart to advance, not merely endure. He shows that courage is not noise or bravado—it is the quiet refusal to yield when the enemy expects retreat.
Sacred Heart Virtue of the Month: Doing the Father’s Will
The first virtue of the strengthening phase is obedience to the Father’s will—not passive acceptance, but active alignment. Jesus strengthens the heart by demanding clarity: Do what the Father asks, not what the world rewards. This is the virtue that turns a man from spectator to soldier.
Joseph’s Role: Protector of Mission and Work
Joseph stands behind the heart like a shield-bearer. He protects the work, the mission, the daily grind that shapes perseverance. He does not remove the battle; he ensures the heart is not ambushed while fighting it.
The Call of May 1
Christ strengthens the heart so it can love to the end.
St. George trains the heart to stand in the fire.
Joseph guards the heart so it can finish the work.
Mary keeps the heart clean so it can remain worthy of the mission.
This is the beginning of the nine-month march of the Sacred Heart.
The heart steps into the arena today.
MAY
Flowers in Mary's month tie us closely to the reawakening
earth. The time of Resurrection and expectant Pentecost is one of buds,
blossoms, wildflowers, and greening of meadows and lawns. Days lengthen and we
welcome the warmth of the sun after the long winter. Jesus is risen and is
present in our midst, and so we rise and ascend with him.
·The Easter season is represented by the liturgical color
white — the color of light, a symbol of joy, purity and innocence (absolute or
restored). The season ends on Pentecost, May 24. The remainder of the month
(beginning the Monday after Pentecost) is in Ordinary Time which is represented by the liturgical
color green. This symbol of hope is the color of the sprouting seed and arouses
in the faithful the hope of reaping the eternal harvest of heaven, especially
the hope of a glorious resurrection.
·"In the medieval period, the rose was
adopted as the flower symbol of the Virgin Birth, as expressed in Dante's
phrase, 'The Rose wherein the Divine Word was made flesh,' and depicted in the
central rose windows of the great gothic cathedrals-from which came the
Christmas carol, 'Lo, How a Rose 'ere Blooming.' Also, in the medieval period,
when monasteries were the centers of horticultural and agricultural knowledge,
and with the spread of the Franciscan love of nature, the actual flowers
themselves, of the fields, waysides and gardens, came to be seen as symbols of
Mary…" – John S. Stokes
·Carlsbad Caverns National Park Month of May Head to this amphitheater at Carlsbad Caverns
National Park for a grand show: Each May Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from a
large, rocky passage within Carlsbad Cavern in search of a tasty mix of insects
for dinner. In case you’ve happened on this wondrous sight in southeastern New
Mexico with your family (and your kids have questions), a park ranger gives an
informative talk as visitors wait for the bats to come out.
·Whale Watching,
Stellwagen Bank—May thru October--Did
winter come and go without you getting a chance to see whales? There’s still
time: Between May and September, more than 400 orcas swim in the waters around
Canada’s Vancouver Island. Or head to the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago
about 1,000 miles from Lisbon, where sperm whales gather from May to October.
Closer to home, Stellwagen Bank, a submerged sandbank between Cape Cod and Cape
Ann in Massachusetts, attracts the endangered North Atlantic right whale to its
waters.
·Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival—April
24 thruMay 3--Take in the small-town charm of
Winchester, VA, in this 6-day celebration of spring. First held in 1924, the
annual festival packs a wallop of more than 30 events into its lineup: band
competitions, dances, parades, carnival, a 10K race, the coronation of Queen
Shenandoah and so much more, attracting crowds in excess of 250,000.
·Cinco
de Mayo--Celebrate
Cinco de Mayo (meaning "fifth of May" in Spanish) right here in the
United States. Nationwide, there are more than 120 official US celebrations,
spanning 21 states, in cities such as Cleveland, Los Angeles, Dallas and
Atlanta. The holiday stretches back to the first few years of the American
Civil War, when Mexican American communities sought to commemorate the causes
of freedom and democracy. Head to downtown Denver for one such celebration:
Here, members of a Mexican folkloric dance academy perform at the city’s Civic
Center Park.
·Kentucky
Derby-May 2nd On your mark, get set … it’s off to
Louisville for the granddaddy of all horse races. In time-honored tradition,
the 152st annual Kentucky Derby -- the first leg of the Triple Crown
-- kicks off the first Saturday in May. Settle into your seat at Churchill
Downs racetrack on Central Avenue, sip a mint julep and enjoy the "Most
Exciting 2 Minutes in Sports."
·Mother’s
Day Tea at The Plaza—May 10th Mom is always fussing over
you, now’s your chance to turn the tables -- in style. Treat Mom to afternoon
tea at The Plaza’s Tea Room. A tradition since the hotel opened in 1907, tea at
this NYC landmark has inspired scenes in popular films and novels, including
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Mom can enjoy a selection of sandwiches and
savories from the Fitzgerald Tea for the Ages and The New Yorker menus.
·Cannes Film Festival—May
12-23--La lumière, la caméra, l'action! Slip on some shades,
and head to the French Riviera for the largest annual showcase of cinema in the
world. Don’t have a ticket to events inside the Palais des Festivals et des
Congres building where the festival is held? Pas de probleme! Enjoy open-air
shows at the Cinema de la Plage, and for celebrity sightings show up
extra-early outside the Palais. You may just spot Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman or
Steven Spielberg on this year’s red carpet.
·Indianapolis
500—May 24--Rev up for the “Greatest Spectacle
in Racing.” Part of the Triple Crown of Motorsports (with the Monaco Grand Prix
and 24 Hours of Le Mans right behind) this annual race is quite possibly the
largest single-day sporting event in the entire world, attracting roughly
400,000 spectators. Head to Indianapolis the last weekend in May, and prepare
for a high-speed show around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval
circuit.
§Welcome to NASCAR Racing
Experience. DRIVE a NASCAR race car by yourself on the Phoenix Raceway- A
1 mile, low-banked tri-oval racetrack with 8 to 9 degrees of banking in the
turns. Following drivers meeting with training and instruction, you’ll drive a
NASCAR race car for timed racing sessions. There’s no lead car to follow and no
instructor rides with you. Get one-on-one instruction from a spotter over
in-car radio. In between every 8 minutes of Track Time get to a brief pit stop
and head back on the track to work on driving faster speeds. Pass the
slower cars as you catch them... YES, passing is allowed!
MAY 1 Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter-First Friday
St.
Joseph The Worker-May Day-Full Flower Moon
Psalm 2, verse 11
Serve the LORD with FEAR; exult with trembling,
accept correction lest he become angry and you perish along the way when his
anger suddenly blazes up. Blessed are all who take refuge in him!
To fully understand this
verse, we must know who the writer is referring to. In verse 10 the writer
states “Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Our God is a just God and to those who
have been given much; much is required. Kings (and the 1 percent’ers) to be
wise must humble themselves. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
the needle then for a rich man to get into heaven. The "Eye of the
Needle" has been claimed to be a gate in Jerusalem, which opened after the
main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through this smaller
gate if it was stooped and had its baggage removed.[4]
I also with this verse
picture Mary Magdalene. Mary who by many accounts was a very rich woman
financed our Lord’s ministry. We see in this verse the shadowing of her kissing
of His feet and at the same time the hardening of Judas’ heart: who on seeing her
act of love and wanting riches refused to humble himself and died in his pride.
Does Christ desire us
to serve with Fear and trembling?
I
noticed the other day that my two dogs when I come in are so excited about
seeing me that they tremble with excitement. I think our God wants our hearts
and our desires. I think we should have the humble fear that a loved child has
for his or her parents, full of love and respect and that we should be excited
too. So, let us approach each day with the kind of excitement that makes us
tremble ready to do the will of God.
Copilot’s Take
The Catechism teaches
that evil does not begin in institutions but in the human heart wounded by sin
(CCC 1707). Psalm 2 exposes this truth with precision: when a person or a
people refuse correction, pride becomes rebellion, and rebellion becomes destruction.
The psalm’s warning to kings applies to every man who carries
influence—authority without humility becomes a doorway for evil to enter.
The CCC describes evil
as both personal and structural. Personal evil arises when a man knowingly
chooses what is false, unjust, or degrading to human dignity (CCC 1849).
Structural evil forms when many such choices accumulate into patterns—cultures
of contempt, habits of violence, or systems that treat people as less than the
image of God (CCC 1869). Psalm 2 names this dynamic: nations “rage,” peoples
“plot in vain,” and rulers “take counsel” against the Lord. It is the anatomy
of sin scaled up.
Holy fear is the
antidote. The fear of the Lord—listed among the gifts of the Spirit (CCC
1831)—is not dread but the clarity that keeps a man from becoming his own god.
It is the interior discipline that prevents him from drifting into the pride
that fuels every form of evil. A man who fears God rightly cannot participate
in hatred, injustice, or cruelty without violating his own conscience.
Confronting evil, then,
is not about rage or retaliation. The CCC calls Christians to resist evil
without becoming evil (CCC 2306). That means naming sin truthfully, refusing to
cooperate with injustice, and standing firm in charity even when the world demands
vengeance. It is the strength of Joseph, who obeyed God quietly; the courage of
the apostles, who spoke truth without hatred; and the humility of Mary
Magdalene, who trembled with love rather than pride.
Psalm 2 ends with a
promise: “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” The man who bows before God
stands upright before evil. He is not shaken by the world’s threats, nor
seduced by its ideologies. He confronts darkness with a steady heart because he
knows the true King—and he knows that no rebellion, no structure of sin, and no
human pride can stand against Him.
Psalm 2 is not ancient
poetry—it is a diagnostic tool for every age that forgets who God is. It warns
that when rulers, institutions, and movements abandon humility, they drift into
the same rebellion the psalm describes: plotting in the shadows while demanding
moral authority in the daylight. The Catechism names this pattern “structures
of sin,” the quiet accumulation of disordered choices that eventually harden
into deception, pride, and betrayal.
And now, in our own
time, we see that pattern reflected with disturbing clarity in the April 21,
2026 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors allege that
the Southern Poverty Law Center secretly funneled more than $3 million of donor
money to individuals tied to violent extremist groups—including the Ku Klux
Klan and the American Nazi Party—while publicly claiming to oppose them. These
are allegations, not convictions, but the shape of the scheme
described—fictitious entities, covert accounts, hidden payments, and a betrayal
of donor trust—is the exact moral inversion Psalm 2 exposes. It is not the loud
evil of mobs and torches; it is the polished, administrative evil of deception
wrapped in virtue language.
If proven true, this
is evil in our time: the laundering of darkness through institutions meant to
stand for light.
And Psalm 2 answers it with a single command: serve the Lord with fear.
Not terror, but the humility that keeps a man from becoming his own god. God
sees through every disguise, judges every distortion, and calls His people to
stand upright in a crooked age—steady, obedient, and unblinded by the world’s
illusions.
“I
promise you, in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will
grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the first Friday for nine
consecutive months, the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in my
disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments; my divine Heart shall be their
safe refuge in that last moment.” — Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary
How to complete the First Friday’s Devotion
1.Receive Holy Communion on each First Friday.
2.The nine Fridays must be consecutive.
3.They must be made in honor and in reparation to His
Sacred Heart.
ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF
JESUS
Sacred
Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly
offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of
all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!
·The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O
Sacred Heart of Jesus!
·The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our
hopes of immortality, the more we shall
trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!
·The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely
amiable Heart of Jesus!
·The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall
adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
·The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and
ignored, the more we shall delight to
observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
·The more Thy Sacraments are despised and
abandoned, the more frequently we shall
receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!
·The more the imitation of Thy virtues is
neglected and forgotten, the more we
shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart of Jesus, model of every virtue!
·The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to
save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!
·The more sin and impurity destroy the image of
God in man, the more we shall try by
purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!
·The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her
faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
·The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more we will honor him as the infallible
head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O kingly Heart of
Jesus!
O
Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the
midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
12 Promises of the Sacred Heart to St.
Margaret Mary
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for
their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially
in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their
undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and
infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great
perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image
of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most
hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have
their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my heart, I promise
you that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who will receive
Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final
repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the
sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour
"May Day" has
long been dedicated to labor and the working man. It falls on the first day of
the month that is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII expressed
the hope that this feast would accentuate the dignity of labor and would bring
a spiritual dimension to labor unions. It is eminently fitting that St. Joseph,
a working man who became the foster-father of Christ and patron of the
universal Church, should be honored on this day. The feast of St. Joseph the
Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the
concept of labor and give to all workmen a model and a protector. By the daily
labor in his shop, offered to God with patience and joy, St. Joseph provided
for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God, and
thus became an example to all laborers. "Workmen and all those laboring in
conditions of poverty will have reasons to rejoice rather than grieve, since
they have in common with the Holy Family daily preoccupations and cares"(Leo
XIII).
·May 1 is celebrated in
Communist countries as the Day of the International Solidarity of Workers.
Today would be a good day to pray for atheistic Communism's influence to cease
and a proper application of the principles explained by Leo XIII in Rerum novarum and John Paul II in Centesimus annus to be the guide used by nations.
·Consider purchasing and
reading Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Fr. Donald
Calloway.
·The Josephites are a
religious order of brothers and priests with the mission of serving African
Americans. Visit their site for more information and also some prayers for the feast of St. Joseph
the Worker. They are named
Josephites because St. Joseph was the first missionary.
·Find some cooking
inspiration for this feast day at Catholic Cuisine.
The
earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the Floralia,
festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held on April 27 during the
Roman Republic era, and with the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic
countries. The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian
European pagan cultures.As Europe became Christianized, the pagan holidays lost their
religious character and May Day changed into a popular secular celebration. A
significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany where it is one of several
days on which St. Walburga, credited with bringing
Christianity to Germany. The secular versions of May Day, observed in Europe
and America, may be best known for their traditions of dancing around the maypole
and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the
late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of
sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors’ doorsteps. Since the
18th century, many Roman Catholics have observed May – and May Day – with
various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In works of art, school
skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May
crowning.
·Roman
Catholics celebrate May as Mary's month, and May Day is celebration of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
·May
Day is also recognized as International Worker's Day, or Labor Day. This
day commemorates workers’ rights and the labor movement. One popular
cause that this day commemorates is the eight-hour workday.
·During
the Haymarket Affair of 1886, more than a dozen people were killed after a
3-day strike and rally. US Labor Unions had agreed upon a general nationwide
strike on May 1, 1886 in support of an eight-hour workday. One such rally, held
outside the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Chicago, Illinois, became
violent when police fired into the crowd of striking workers. Outraged, the
worker's organized another rally the next day at Haymarket Square. The rally
became violent when a bomb was thrown into a crowd of police. Seven
officers were killed. A very public trial ensued which ended in the
public hanging of four anarchists.
·In
France, it is customary to give a sweet-smelling flower called the spring of
lily of the valley (a symbol of springtime) on May 1st. The tradition started
in 1561 when King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky
charm.
·All
labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken
with painstaking excellence. – Martin Luther King Jr.
May Day Top Events and Things to Do
·Dance
around a Maypole. Decorate a tall pole with garlands of flowers and ribbons.
Have a group of friends each take a ribbon and dance around the pole,
interweaving the ribbons to form a braided affect. The braid can be undone by
retracing one's steps.
·Have
a picnic outdoors in the sunshine.
·Attend
a May Day Festival.
·Visit
a local fresh air market.
·Watch
a film relating to worker’s rights. Our favorite films on the topic:
1) The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
2) Office Space (1999)
3) Caesar Chavez (2014)
Bible in a
year Day 301 Rising
Again
As we begin to wrap up the Old Testament, Fr. Mike reflects on our
reading from Sirach and what we have already learned on this journey through
the Bible. He emphasizes that Scripture encourages us to rise again from our
sin and return to God, because our God always picks us up again with his mercy.
Today’s readings are 2 Maccabees 4, Sirach 47-49, and Proverbs 24:13-16.
THIS WE BELIEVE
PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH
Closing Invocation
for Night Prayers
Holy Mother of Jesus, my guardian angel, St. Joseph and my holy patron
saint, protect me during this night and during my whole life, especially at the
hour of my death. Amen.
Fitness Friday
Modern populations
are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived,
and socially isolated.[9]
Depression and Sleep: Understanding the
Connection
Depression and sleep
problems are closely linked. People with insomnia, for example, may have a tenfold
higher risk of developing depression than people who get a good night’s sleep.
And among people with depression, 75% have trouble falling asleep or staying
asleep.
Which comes first? Either
one can be the starting point, say sleep experts. Poor sleep may create
difficulties regulating emotions that, in turn, may leave you more vulnerable
to depression in the future — months or even years from now. And depression itself
is associated with sleep difficulties such as shortening the amount of
restorative slow wave sleep a person gets each night.
If you have depression, daily stresses — such as
financial worries, an argument with your spouse, or a jam-packed evening
commute — could also lead to more nighttime wake-ups and more trouble getting
back to sleep than someone without depression would experience.
Understanding the
relationship between insomnia and depression can help you spot risks early, get
the right help, and recover more fully if you are experiencing both. You’ll
feel healthy, well-rested, and able to enjoy life again. Here’s what you need
to know about depression and sleep:
Take sleep problems seriously.
You should tell your
doctor if you:
have trouble falling or
staying asleep.
feel tired during the day.
have physical pain,
discomfort or other complaints (for instance, signs of obstructive sleep
apnea or pauses in breathing at night) that prevent you from getting a
good night’s sleep.
Treatments such as
cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and continuous positive airway
pressure (CPAP) devices for apnea can restore good sleep, helping you sidestep
related conditions like depression. (People with sleep apnea have a fivefold
higher risk of depression.)
Stay alert for signs of depression.
These include feeling
hopeless, helpless or sad; trouble concentrating and remembering things; loss
of energy; daytime sleepiness; loss of interest in activities that once gave
you pleasure; or thoughts of suicide or death. Tell your doctor if you have any
of these. (Call 911 if you have thoughts of suicide.)
This is especially
important if you’re discussing insomnia with your doctor. Insomnia may be a
separate condition or a symptom of depression. Your doctor needs to know as
much as possible to treat the right problem.
Get help for both depression and sleep.
If you have insomnia and
depression, don’t assume that medical treatment for one will automatically cure
the other. Treatments for depression, such as selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors and other medications, may improve your mood and outlook, but they
may not be enough to improve your sleep.
There’s some evidence that
lingering sleep problems in people undergoing depression treatment increase the
risk of a slide back into depression. The good news: There’s also some early
evidence that CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia), along with
depression treatment, improves sleep in people with depression and may increase
the chances of a remission of depression.
Poor Quality Sleep Reduces Resilience
In a Johns Hopkins study,
healthy women and men whose sleep was interrupted throughout the night had a
31% reduction in positive moods the next day. The data shows that sleep
interruptions interfere with deep, restorative slow-wave sleep. Ongoing insomnia
could increase a person’s risk of depression by weakening their emotional
resilience — the buffer of positive emotions that helps people deal with stress
and challenges of life.
Today
according to the almanac is a Full Flower Moon; bring flowers to all the women
in your life. Christ always brought His mother Lilies of the Valley.
Dickie Moore • Irving Pichel • William “Stage” Boyd A stark, early‑sound adaptation where poverty, exploitation, and moral brutality are shown without sentiment — revealing how a society’s indifference can deform a child faster than outright cruelty.
1. Production & Historical Setting
Released in 1933 and directed by William J. Cowen, this Oliver Twist is a Pre‑Code Poverty Row drama — shot with limited resources, minimal sets, and a rawness that accidentally aligns with Dickens’ original brutality. Before Hollywood softened the edges, this version lets the ugliness of the workhouse and the criminal underworld stand unfiltered.
The film emerges from an America wrestling with:
The Great Depression’s exposure of systemic poverty
A growing distrust of institutions — workhouses, courts, police
The rise of the “lost child” archetype in early cinema
A moral climate where survival often overshadowed virtue
Dickie Moore plays Oliver with a quiet, wounded realism — no theatrical innocence, just a child absorbing blows. Irving Pichel’s Fagin is cold, calculating, and less caricatured than later versions — a predator shaped by scarcity. William “Stage” Boyd’s Bill Sikes is pure menace: a man whose violence is not dramatic but habitual.
The world is cramped rooms, shadowed alleys, and the claustrophobic interiors of poverty — the perfect landscape for a child who learns early that mercy is rare and justice is slow.
2. Story Summary
Oliver is born in a workhouse; his mother dies immediately. Raised in institutional neglect, he is sold, beaten, and eventually flees to London.
There he meets the Artful Dodger, who brings him into Fagin’s den — a criminal apprenticeship disguised as family.
What follows is a descent into:
exploitation
theft
fear
moral confusion
Oliver is wrongly accused of pickpocketing but rescued by Mr. Brownlow, who sees the child beneath the grime. Fagin and Bill Sikes abduct Oliver to force him into burglary. Nancy tries to save him — and pays with her life.
Sikes dies while fleeing justice. Fagin is executed. Oliver is restored to Brownlow’s care, but the film leaves the scars visible: salvation does not erase what the world has done to him.
3. Spiritual & Moral Resonances
A. Innocence Without Protection Becomes Prey
Oliver’s goodness is not enough. Without defenders, innocence is consumed.
B. Institutions Can Fail the Weak
The workhouse, the courts, the police — all fail Oliver before any criminal does.
C. Evil Often Masquerades as Necessity
Fagin and Sikes justify their cruelty as survival. Sin frequently hides behind “I had no choice.”
D. Mercy Arrives Through Individuals, Not Systems
Brownlow’s compassion is the turning point — one man choosing to see dignity where others saw inconvenience.
E. A Child’s Soul Reveals a Society’s Soul
Oliver’s suffering is an indictment: the measure of a culture is how it treats its smallest members.
4. Hospitality Pairing — The Workhouse Table
A coarse brown bread — dry, plain, the taste of institutional survival
A tin cup of weak broth — thin, insufficient, the rationed mercy of the world
A single candle on a rough wooden table — the fragile light of conscience
A worn wool coat thrown over a chair — the armor of the poor
A chipped bowl — the symbol of every child who has ever asked for more
A setting for nights when you want to examine the cost of neglect, the weight of responsibility, and the quiet heroism of those who choose mercy in a brutal world.
5. Reflection Prompts
Where have I tolerated injustice because it was “normal”?
Who in my life is vulnerable — and am I acting like Brownlow or like the indifferent crowd?
What “workhouse rules” have I internalized that keep me from compassion?
Where am I excusing harshness as necessity?
What part of my soul still feels like Oliver — waiting for someone to see me?
Posts
