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. "
Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Elia Kazan Release: 1945 Screenplay: Tess Slesinger & Frank Davis, adapted from Betty Smith’s novel Stars: Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Joan Blondell, James Gleason, Peggy Ann Garner Genre: Family drama / Coming‑of‑age Notable: Kazan’s debut feature, a tender portrait of poverty, dignity, and hope in early‑20th‑century Brooklyn. James Dunn won the Academy Award for his heartbreaking performance as Johnny Nolan, and Peggy Ann Garner received the Juvenile Oscar for her luminous portrayal of Francie.
🧭 Story Summary
In the Williamsburg tenements of 1912 Brooklyn, young Francie Nolan grows up in a world of scarcity, imagination, and fierce family loyalty. Her mother, Katie (Dorothy McGuire), is disciplined and unsentimental, carrying the household on her back. Her father, Johnny (James Dunn), is a singing waiter—charming, affectionate, and undone by alcoholism. Between them stands Francie, whose hunger for beauty and learning becomes the “tree” that insists on growing in hard soil.
Francie’s world is shaped by small triumphs and quiet heartbreaks: the ritual of saving pennies for the tin‑can bank, the humiliation of poverty, the joy of books, the ache of watching her father falter, and the steady love of Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell), whose warmth and mischief soften the family’s burdens. When tragedy strikes, Francie must learn to carry both memory and hope, discovering that resilience is not loud but rooted—like the tree outside her window that grows despite everything.
The film closes not with triumph but with a deepening: a family choosing to rise, a girl choosing to grow, and a neighborhood that holds both sorrow and grace in the same narrow streets.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
Postwar America embraced stories of ordinary families enduring hardship with dignity; this film became a touchstone for that sensibility.
Elia Kazan’s direction brought a documentary realism to tenement life—textures of laundry lines, stairwells, and street corners that feel lived‑in rather than staged.
Betty Smith’s novel, beloved for its honesty, arrived during WWII; the film adaptation carried that same spirit of endurance into the final months of the war.
James Dunn’s performance mirrored his own life—struggles with alcohol, a fall from stardom, and a redemptive return—giving Johnny Nolan a poignancy that audiences recognized as real.
The film helped establish the coming‑of‑age genre as a serious cinematic form, not merely sentimental but morally and socially observant.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Beneath its domestic realism, the film carries a quiet Catholic heart—sacramental, incarnational, attentive to grace in the ordinary.
Dignity in Hidden Labor
Katie Nolan embodies the Church’s teaching that work—especially unseen, domestic work—is a participation in God’s sustaining love. Her strength is not glamorous but sacrificial.
Mercy for the Wounded
Johnny Nolan is not excused, but he is never despised. The film models a Catholic tenderness toward the sinner: truth without cruelty, compassion without denial.
Family as a School of Virtue
The Nolans’ poverty becomes the forge where patience, humility, and perseverance are formed. Their home is a small domestic church, imperfect yet sanctifying.
Hope Rooted in Reality
The tree that grows in the courtyard is a symbol of grace: life insisting on flourishing where it should not. This mirrors the Church’s conviction that God plants hope in the most unlikely soil.
Suffering as Formation
Francie’s heartbreaks—especially the loss of her father—become the soil of her vocation. Her suffering does not crush her; it deepens her capacity for love, imagination, and truth.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Irish Coffee — warm, humble, and tinged with sweetness and sorrow, echoing Johnny Nolan’s charm and fragility.
Snack: Fresh‑baked brown bread with butter — simple, nourishing, the kind of food a Brooklyn tenement mother would stretch to feed her family, yet rich enough to honor the film’s tenderness.
Atmosphere:
A single lamp or warm bulb to evoke the tenement’s intimate glow.
Soft turn‑of‑the‑century parlor music or early American folk tunes.
A quiet moment afterward to reflect on the small mercies that sustain a family.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where in your own life is God asking you to grow like Francie’s tree—quietly, stubbornly, in soil that feels too hard—and what small acts of fidelity might nourish that hidden growth?
She Wouldn t Say Yes |1945 Comedy Film | Rosalind Russell | Lee Bowman
🎬 Production Snapshot
Studio: Columbia Pictures Director: Alexander Hall Release: November 29, 1945 bing.com Screenplay: Virginia Van Upp, Hans (John) Jacoby, Sarett Tobias Wikipedia Stars: Rosalind Russell, Lee Bowman, Adele Jergens, Charles Winninger, Harry Davenport Wikipedia Genre: Screwball comedy / Romantic farce Notable: A post‑WWII comedy built around Russell’s signature blend of intelligence and exasperated charm. The film plays with the era’s fascination with psychiatry, impulse, and the tension between professional women and romantic pursuit. It also reflects the Production Code’s moral boundaries, shaping a story where desire must pass through propriety before fulfillment. Obscure Hollywood
🧭 Story Summary
Dr. Susan Lane (Rosalind Russell), a disciplined psychiatrist fresh from work at a military hospital, believes firmly in suppressing impulsive behavior. On her way home, she is literally knocked off her feet by comic‑strip creator Michael Kent (Lee Bowman), whose mischievous “Nixie” character encourages people to follow their whims. Wikipedia
A series of accidental encounters—train tickets switched by an impulsive clerk, shared compartments, and repeated collisions—forces the two into each other’s orbit. Kent is instantly smitten; Susan is instantly irritated. His pursuit is persistent, playful, and increasingly elaborate, culminating in a trick marriage that she spends much of the film trying to undo. Wikipedia
The comedy unfolds through misunderstandings, psychological banter, and the contrast between Susan’s rigid self‑control and Kent’s breezy spontaneity. By the final reel, her defenses soften, his antics settle, and the two meet in a middle ground where affection triumphs over analysis.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
Postwar romantic comedies often explored the re‑entry of women into domestic life after wartime independence. Susan Lane’s professional authority—and the film’s insistence that she must eventually yield to romance—reflects that cultural tension.
The Production Code shaped the film’s boundaries: flirtation is allowed, but sexual innuendo is muted, and marriage becomes the moral gatekeeper for intimacy. This stands in sharp contrast to pre‑Code films like She Had to Say Yes (1933), where desire was depicted more frankly. Obscure Hollywood
Rosalind Russell’s persona—fast‑talking, competent, slightly neurotic—was at its peak. This film sits between her sharper comedies (His Girl Friday) and her later, more polished roles (Auntie Mame).
Train‑set comedies were a 1940s staple, using confined spaces to heighten romantic friction. The film’s best sequences—ticket counters, berths, bar cars—capture that era’s cinematic charm. IMDb
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Though lighter and less overtly moral than the dramas you’ve been exploring, the film still carries subtle resonances:
The Dance Between Reason and Impulse
Susan’s profession represents order; Kent represents spontaneity. The film suggests that virtue lies not in suppressing desire but in integrating it—echoing the Catholic understanding that reason and passion are meant to be harmonized, not opposed.
Marriage as the Moral Horizon
The Production Code’s insistence on marriage before intimacy mirrors the Church’s teaching that romantic desire finds its proper fulfillment within covenant rather than impulse.
Humility as Conversion
Susan’s journey is one of softening—recognizing that her self‑sufficiency is tinged with pride. Kent’s journey is one of grounding—learning that love requires more than whim. Their union becomes a small parable of mutual refinement.
The Comic as a Gentle Corrective
Comedy here functions as a moral teacher: it exposes rigidity, mocks vanity, and invites the characters (and the audience) to laugh themselves into a more humane posture.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Champagne Cocktail — light, effervescent, playful, matching the film’s screwball energy and train‑car flirtations.
Snack: Buttered Popcorn with a dash of smoked salt — simple, nostalgic, and perfectly suited to a 1940s comedy that leans on charm rather than spectacle.
Atmosphere:
Soft big‑band or swing music to evoke the postwar mood.
A small lamp or warm light to echo the cozy train compartments.
A relaxed, laughter‑ready posture—this film is meant to delight, not to instruct.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where might a little levity or loosened self‑protection open space for grace in your own daily rhythm—especially in places where seriousness has become a shield rather than a strength?
Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Carol Reed Release: 1965 Screenplay: Philip Dunne, based on Irving Stone’s biographical novel Stars: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews Genre: Historical drama / Biographical epic Notable: A rare film that dramatizes the spiritual and artistic struggle behind the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Heston and Harrison embody two titanic wills—Michelangelo’s interior vocation and Pope Julius II’s outward mission—locked in a conflict that becomes a meditation on creation, authority, and divine calling.
🧭 Story Summary
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Charlton Heston), already a renowned sculptor, is reluctantly commissioned by Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo resists, insisting he is a sculptor, not a painter. His first attempt collapses under the weight of his own dissatisfaction, and he abandons Rome for the mountains, seeking clarity in the raw forms of nature.
In the solitude of the quarries, he receives a renewed vision—Creation, Fall, Flood, and the promise of redemption. He returns to Rome with a fire that neither exhaustion, criticism, nor papal impatience can extinguish. Julius II, meanwhile, wages wars, battles illness, and pushes Michelangelo relentlessly, demanding progress even as he himself is transformed by the unfolding beauty above him.
The ceiling becomes a crucible for both men: Michelangelo’s agony of creation and Julius’s agony of leadership. When the frescoes are finally revealed, the ecstasy is not triumph but revelation—beauty born from struggle, vocation purified through conflict, and two flawed men drawn closer to God through the work they fought to complete.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
1960s epic filmmaking favored grand historical canvases, and this film stands out for grounding spectacle in spiritual and artistic interiority.
Charlton Heston, known for biblical epics, brings a prophet‑like intensity to Michelangelo—driven, stubborn, and aflame with vocation.
Rex Harrison plays Julius II as both warrior and shepherd, capturing the Renaissance papacy’s blend of political power and spiritual responsibility.
The film reflects mid‑20th‑century fascination with genius as burden, portraying artistic creation as a form of suffering that yields transcendence.
Its attention to the Genesis cycle mirrors a cultural moment hungry for origins, meaning, and the possibility of renewal amid global upheaval.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Beneath the Renaissance grandeur lies a deeply Catholic meditation on vocation, obedience, and the sanctifying power of beauty.
Vocation as Obedience to Truth
Michelangelo refuses to paint what he does not believe. His agony is fidelity—an artist wrestling with God’s call. This mirrors the Church’s teaching that vocation is not self‑expression but self‑gift.
Authority as a Refining Fire
Julius II’s pressure exposes Michelangelo’s pride, but Michelangelo’s persistence exposes Julius’s need for humility. Their conflict becomes mutual sanctification: authority purified by beauty, genius disciplined by obedience.
Creation as Participation in God’s Work
The Genesis frescoes are not decoration; they are catechesis in color and form. Michelangelo becomes a co‑creator, revealing divine truth through human craft.
Suffering as the Path to Revelation
The ceiling is born through exhaustion, misunderstanding, and near collapse. This echoes the Paschal pattern: suffering that yields glory, labor that becomes liturgy.
Beauty as Evangelization
Julius II, hardened by war and politics, is softened and converted by the beauty unfolding above him. The film affirms the Church’s conviction that beauty can pierce the heart where argument cannot.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink: Tuscan Sangiovese — earthy, structured, tied to the same soil Michelangelo carved and loved. A wine that tastes of stone, labor, and sunlight.
Snack: Pecorino Toscano with figs or honey — simple, monastic, and worthy of a feast day. A pairing that honors both the austerity of the artist and the splendor of the finished work.
Atmosphere:
A single candle or lamp to echo the chapel’s contemplative glow.
Renaissance choral music—Palestrina or Victoria—played softly before the film.
Silence afterward, allowing the viewer to sit with the weight of creation and the grace of completion.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where is God asking you to labor in a way that feels costly, slow, or misunderstood—and what vision, once received, would give you the strength to persevere until the work becomes revelation?
Studio: Paramount Pictures Director: Mitchell Leisen Release: 1937 Screenplay: Virginia Van Upp, based on the Broadway play Burlesque Stars: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Charles Butterworth, Harvey Stephens Genre: Romantic comedy / Musical drama Notable: One of the finest Lombard–MacMurray pairings; a rise‑and‑fall story wrapped in nightclub glamour and emotional realism. The Panama Canal Zone setting gives the film an expatriate, morally humid atmosphere where charm and temptation coexist.
🧭 Story Summary
Maggie King (Carole Lombard), a shipboard hairdresser, is stranded in Panama after a chaotic encounter with Skid Johnson (Fred MacMurray), a trumpet‑playing soldier with more talent than discipline. Thrown together by circumstance, they build a life in the local nightclub scene—she dances, he plays, and their affection grows into marriage.
Skid’s trumpet brilliance draws the attention of New York agents, and success pulls him away from Maggie. Distance, pride, and an opportunistic former flame erode his fidelity. Maggie, wounded but steadfast, watches the man she loves unravel under the weight of fame and self‑indulgence. Only when Skid hits bottom does he recognize the cost of his pride and the depth of Maggie’s loyalty.
The film resolves not with spectacle but with humility: a broken man returning to the woman who never stopped loving him, and a marriage rebuilt on truth rather than charm.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
Paramount in the late 1930s specialized in sophisticated romantic dramas with musical flair, and Leisen was a master of emotional texture.
Carole Lombard, though famous for screwball comedy, delivers one of her most grounded, emotionally mature performances.
Fred MacMurray was still early in his career, often cast as the charming but flawed everyman—an archetype he refines here.
The Panama Canal Zone setting reflects 1930s fascination with exotic, transient spaces where Americans lived outside familiar moral structures.
The film’s rise‑and‑fall arc mirrors Depression‑era anxieties about ambition, instability, and the fragility of relationships under pressure.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The film’s nightclub sheen hides a deeply moral story about vocation, fidelity, and the purifying fire of humility.
Fidelity as Covenant, Not Sentiment
Maggie’s love is not naïve; it is covenantal. She remains faithful not because Skid deserves it but because she understands marriage as a promise that endures through disorder. Her fidelity mirrors the Church’s teaching that love is an act of the will, not a mood.
Ambition Without Virtue Leads to Ruin
Skid’s downfall is not caused by talent but by pride. His gifts become destructive when detached from gratitude and discipline. Catholic moral tradition warns that unanchored ambition corrodes the soul and fractures relationships.
Humility as the Doorway to Restoration
Skid’s return is not triumphant—it is penitential. He must face the truth of his failures, accept Maggie’s mercy, and rebuild his life from the ground up. This echoes the sacramental pattern: contrition, confession, restoration.
Mercy That Does Not Excuse Sin
Maggie forgives, but she does not pretend nothing happened. Her mercy is clear‑eyed, rooted in truth. This is the Church’s vision of mercy: not indulgence, but love that heals without lying.
Marriage as Mutual Sanctification
Their reconciliation suggests that marriage is a school of virtue. Maggie’s steadfastness and Skid’s repentance become the means by which both grow in maturity and grace.
🍸 Hospitality Pairing
Drink: The Panama Highball — light rum, lime, and club soda. Bright, tropical, and honest—echoing the film’s early joy before ambition complicates things.
Snack: Plantain chips with a touch of sea salt. Simple, warm, and rooted in the film’s Canal Zone setting.
Atmosphere:
Soft jazz or trumpet instrumentals playing quietly.
A dim lamp or candle to evoke the nightclub’s glow without its chaos.
A small keepsake or memento on the table—a reminder of Maggie’s steadfastness and the way love remembers even when wounded.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where has ambition—your own or someone else’s—pulled you away from the relationships that anchor you, and what small act of humility could begin the work of restoration?
Not a Ladies’ Man (1942)
🎬 Production Snapshot
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director: Lew Landers
Release: 1942
Screenplay: Rian James (from the story Just Another Dame by Robert Hardy Andrews)
Stars: Paul Kelly, Fay Wray, Douglas Croft, Ruth Ford
Genre: Domestic drama / Legal melodrama
Notable: One of Fay Wray’s final pre‑retirement roles; a compact, 60‑minute Columbia B‑drama centered on fatherhood, truth‑telling, and the moral cost of public duty.
🧭 Story Summary
District Attorney Robert Bruce (Paul Kelly) is a recently divorced father trying to raise his young son, Bill, with steadiness and integrity. Bill’s emotional turmoil at school draws the attention of his compassionate teacher, Hester Hunter (Fay Wray), whose concern slowly becomes affection for both father and son.
The drama intensifies when Robert discovers that his ex‑wife has remarried a racketeer he is preparing to prosecute. His instinct to protect Bill from shame collides with his obligation to uphold the law. Bill, sensing the tension but not understanding it, tries to “fix” the situation in ways that only deepen the crisis.
The film moves toward a quiet, human resolution: truth must be faced, dignity must be preserved, and love—steady, patient, unshowy—can rebuild what fear and secrecy have strained.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
Wartime domestic dramas were common in the early 1940s, offering audiences stories of home, duty, and moral clarity amid global uncertainty.
Columbia’s B‑unit specialized in brisk, emotionally direct films that foregrounded character over spectacle.
Fay Wray’s late‑career roles often cast her as a stabilizing, morally grounded presence—an echo of her shift away from the sensationalism of her early 1930s fame.
Legal melodramas of this era frequently explored the tension between public responsibility and private vulnerability, reflecting anxieties about corruption, family breakdown, and civic virtue.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
The film’s quiet domestic scale opens surprisingly rich moral territory.
Truth as the Foundation of Communion
Robert’s desire to shield his son from painful truths is understandable, but secrecy fractures trust. Catholic moral teaching frames truth not as harsh exposure but as the ground on which relationships can heal.
The Vocation of Fatherhood
Robert’s struggle is not simply legal—it is vocational. He must discern how to be a father who protects without deceiving, who disciplines without crushing, who models integrity even when it costs him.
The Teacher as Moral Witness
Hester embodies the Church’s vision of accompaniment: she sees the child, not the scandal; she offers presence rather than judgment. Her role mirrors the vocation of educators who safeguard dignity and nurture hope.
Justice Without Vengeance
The prosecution of the racketeer is not framed as triumph but as duty. Catholic social teaching insists that justice must be ordered toward the common good, not personal vindication. Robert’s restraint reflects this.
Healing Through Right Relationship
The film’s resolution suggests that families are repaired not by erasing the past but by choosing fidelity in the present—an echo of the Church’s insistence that grace works through human cooperation, not magical escape.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing Drink: A Whiskey Highball—simple, honest, unpretentious. It matches the film’s tone: nothing flashy, just clarity and warmth.
Snack: Buttered toast with a sprinkle of smoked salt. Domestic, comforting, and evocative of a kitchen where a father and son might talk through hard truths.
Atmosphere:
A single lamp on, creating a sense of evening reflection.
A schoolbook or notebook on the table, nodding to Hester’s quiet influence.
A sense of calm order—because the film is about rebuilding what disorder has strained.
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to “protect” someone by withholding truth—and what would it look like to trust that charity and clarity together can heal more deeply than silence?
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)
·National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.
o The nation’s capital comes abloom every spring with the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. See the famed cherry blossom trees, lining the Tidal Basin, while strolling by iconic sites like the Jefferson and Martin Luther King memorials.
·Plan ahead for next year:
oSkiing- Also known as downhill skiing, Alpine skiing began as a club sport in 1861 at Kiandra in Australia. Today, most alpine skiing occurs at ski resorts with ski lifts that transport skiers up the mountain.
💎 Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Vietnam Valley of Wounds / River of Rising Light
Bosnia & Herzegovina and Vietnam sit just beyond the third ring of the global middle — nations marked by war, memory, and the long, slow work of rebuilding. Bosnia is a fractured Balkan valley where Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks live in a delicate balance shaped by trauma and hope. Vietnam is a fast‑growing Southeast Asian nation where Catholicism survives under pressure yet radiates youthful energy and missionary zeal. Together they reveal the world where wounds and rising light coexist.
🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina — Fragmented, Historic, and Quietly Faithful
GDP per capita (PPP): ~$18,000 (2024)
🧮 Why Bosnia Sits Just Above This Ring
Post‑war economy slowly stabilizing
Complex political structure (Dayton Accords legacy)
High unemployment but steady diaspora remittances
Tourism tied to Sarajevo, Mostar, and natural beauty
EU‑aspiring but hindered by ethnic divisions
✝️ Catholic Landscape
Catholic Croats form the main Catholic population
Shrines like Medjugorje draw millions of pilgrims
Church active in reconciliation and trauma healing
Priests often serve scattered rural communities
Youth movements strong in pilgrimage culture
⚠️ Challenges
Emigration draining young Catholics
Ethnic fragmentation
Slow economic growth
Rural depopulation
🌿 Pilgrimage Cue
Bosnia is a valley of wounds — a land where the Church tends to trauma with tenderness, pilgrimage, and the slow rebuilding of trust.
🇻🇳 Vietnam — Young, Dynamic, and Quietly Courageous
GDP per capita (PPP): ~$9,000 (2024)
🧮 Why Vietnam Sits Just Below This Ring
Rapid economic growth driven by manufacturing
Young population and rising urbanization
Export‑driven economy integrated with global markets
State‑controlled religious environment
Strong diaspora influence
✝️ Catholic Landscape
~7% Catholic — one of Asia’s largest Catholic populations
Vibrant youth movements and vocations
Marian devotion (La Vang) deeply rooted
Church active in charity, education, and healthcare
Faith often lived with quiet courage under restrictions
⚠️ Challenges
Limited religious freedom
Rural poverty
Environmental pressures from rapid industrialization
Migration to cities straining parish structures
🌿 Pilgrimage Cue
Vietnam is a river of rising light — a Church that grows through youth, devotion, and the quiet courage of believers who shine without spectacle.
🕊️ Editorial Reflection
Bosnia & Herzegovina and Vietnam reveal the world where wounds and rising light meet. Bosnia carries the scars of conflict yet shelters a deep Marian heartbeat. Vietnam surges with youthful energy, devotion, and quiet bravery.
One heals through memory. The other grows through courage. Both show that the Church thrives not only in stability but in the tension between suffering and hope.
March 20-Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Vernal Equinox-Happiness Day
Joshua, Chapter 8, Verse 1
The LORD then said to Joshua: Do
not be AFRAID or dismayed. Take all
the army with you and prepare to attack Ai.I have delivered the
king of Ai into your power, with his people, city, and land.
Joshua
was afraid and demoralized because on the Israelites first attempt at taking Ai
they were defeated. God here tells Joshua to be cheerful and be filled with
calm; be reassured.
John
Maxwell noted author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of LeadershipSeries
states that all Christian leaders need to learn the proper balance between
faith and preparation or planning. Joshua is told by God what to do but not how
to do it.[1] Joshua
planned the particulars of the campaign against the Ai.
Law#4-The Law of
Navigation:Anyone
can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. To
make it happen, you have to take action. You must do what you know needs doing.
You must do it when it needs to be done. Don’t wait. You can make it happen. Knowing how is not the key. Taking action
is.
Where
should you start?
1.Follow
your conscience.
What do you feel you should do? What do you want to do?
2.Consider
your passion. What
do you get excited about? What do you need to do?
3.Consider
your natural talents.
What are you naturally good at without much effort? What hobbies do you have?
What interests do you have?
4.Consider
what society needs and values.
What do you love to do so much you would do it for free, but people are willing
to pay others to do? What do you see others doing that you would like to do?
If you want
to find your purpose, you must get on the seldom traveled road to significance
filled with setbacks, roadblocks, obstacles, and detours. This road leads to
your purpose. You must develop the vision in order to see where you want to be
next. Then, you must take the steps to move from where you are to where you
want to be. You should always be grateful for where you are and what you have,
but you should never be satisfied.[2]
Blessed
are those who hear the word of God and observe it.
(Lk.
11:28)
Copilot’s Take
Joshua’s renewed charge at Ai reflects what the
Catechism calls the virtue of fortitude, the grace that steadies a person in
difficulty and enables perseverance in the pursuit of the good (CCC 1808).
God’s command, “Do not be afraid or dismayed,” is not a dismissal of fear but
the divine strengthening that allows action in the face of it. The Catechism
teaches that God grants actual grace—help given “for particular needs” (CCC
2000)—and Joshua receives precisely that: courage for the moment, not a full tactical
blueprint. God entrusts the mission; the leader must exercise judgment,
prudence, and initiative. This is the pattern of biblical leadership: grace
empowers, but responsibility remains.
The setback at Ai exposes what the Catechism
describes as humanity’s “dramatic struggle between good and evil” (CCC 409).
Israel’s defeat was not merely military; it revealed hidden disorder within the
community. Before confronting the enemy outside, the people had to confront the
evil within. The Catechism teaches that sin disrupts communion and weakens
mission (CCC 1849–1851), and the purification of the camp restores the
integrity needed for victory. Evil often works through discouragement,
confusion, and compromise long before it appears in open conflict. Joshua’s
interior renewal—his refusal to let fear dictate the future—becomes the first
triumph, and the external victory simply manifests what grace has already
secured.
The discernment of purpose follows the same
catechetical logic. Conscience is the “aboriginal Vicar of Christ” (CCC 1778),
the place where God’s voice is heard. Talents are distributed unequally so that
each person may serve the other (CCC 1936–1937). The needs of society call each
person to contribute to the common good (CCC 1913–1917). When conscience,
passion, talent, and need converge, vocation emerges. Yet the path toward that
vocation is narrow because it requires confronting the obstacles that resist
it—fear, sloth, self-doubt, and the subtle temptations that keep a person from
acting. Lent sharpens this awareness by teaching that gratitude for the present
and longing for the future are not opposites but companions: one roots the
soul, the other propels it toward mission.
Jesus’ blessing—“Blessed are those who hear the word
of God and observe it”—completes the picture. The Catechism teaches that faith
becomes authentic only when it expresses itself in obedience (CCC 143–144).
Hearing without acting leaves a person vulnerable to the discouragement Joshua
faced; acting without hearing leads to confusion and pride. But when hearing
becomes obedience, and obedience becomes courageous action, evil loses its
leverage. This is the Lenten posture: purified, attentive, and willing to move.
O God, Who renewest the world by
unspeakable mysteries, grant, we beseech Thee, that Thy Church may profit by
Thy eternal institutions, and not be deprived of Thy temporal assistance. Amen
EPISTLE, Kings xvii. 17-24.
In
those days the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the
sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him. And she
said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to
me that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son?
And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and
carried him into the upper chamber where he abode and laid him upon his own
bed. And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, hast Thou afflicted
also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?
And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to
the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech Thee,
return into his body. And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of
the child returned into him, and he revived. And Elias took the child and
brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him
to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth. And the woman said to
Elias: Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord
in thy mouth is true.
GOSPEL. John xi. 1-45.
At
that time: There was a certain man sick named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town
of Mary and of Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that anointed the Lord with
ointment and wiped His feet with her hair: whose brother Lazarus was sick.) His
sisters therefore sent to Him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is
sick. And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Now Jesus
loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. "When He had heard
therefore that he was sick, He still remained in the same place two days: then
after that He said to His disciples: Let us go into Judea again. The disciples
say to Him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee: and goest Thou
thither again? Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man
walks in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
but if he walks in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
These things He said, and after that He said to them: Lazarus our friend
sleepeth: but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. His disciples therefore
said: Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well. But Jesus spoke of his death; and
they thought that He spoke of the repose of sleep. Then therefore Jesus said to
them plainly: Lazarus is dead; and I am glad for your sakes, that I was not
there, that you may believe but let us go to him. Thomas, therefore, who is
called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die
with Him. Jesus therefore came and found that he had been four days already in
the grave. (Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) And
many of the Jews were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their
brother. Martha, therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus was come, went to
meet Him; but Mary sat at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if Thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever
Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee. Jesus saith to her: Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha saith to Him: I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in Me although he be dead, shall live and everyone that
liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die forever. Believest thou this? She
saith to Him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the Son of the
living God, Who art come into this world. And when she had said these things,
she went, and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come and
calleth for thee. She, as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly and cometh to
Him. For Jesus was not yet come into the town: but He was still in that place
where Martha had met Him. The Jews, therefore, who were with her in the house
and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out,
followed her, saying: She goeth to the grave, to weep there. When Mary
therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing Him, she fell down at His feet, and
saith to Him: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Jesus,
therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her,
weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself, and said: Where have you
laid him? They said to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews
therefore said: Behold how He loved him. Biit some of them said: Could not He
that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should
not die? Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the sepulcher: now
it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus saith: Take away the stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to Him: Lord, by this time he
stinketh. for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to
thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? They took
therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said: Father, I give
Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but
because of the people who stand about have I said it: that they may believe
that Thou hast sent Me. When He had said these things, He cried with a loud
voice: Lazarus, come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth,
bound feet and hands with winding-bands, and his face was bound about with a
napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him and let him go. Many therefore of the
Jews who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did,
believed in Him.
Preparing
for Battle[4] Know Your
Weapons-fasting.
When God’s
people fast, the power of their prayers is increased, especially when they are
engaged in spiritual warfare.
In response to
Daniel’s fasting and prayer, God had sent the Archangel Michael to battle a
demonic power (called “the prince of the kingdom of Persia”)
If prayer is a
spiritual weapon, fasting is the spiritual whetstone on which it is sharpened.
Bible in a
year Day 261 Ornate
Souls
Fr. Mike explains the
many parables we hear today in Matthew, including the return of the unclean
spirit, and the danger of ornate souls. He emphasizes that when God sweeps the
sin out of our souls, we must replace it with virtue, otherwise our souls remain
empty without a relationship with God. Today's readings are Matthew 11-13 and
Proverbs 19:5-8.
Spring
traditionally marks the end of winter and
the beginning of a season that signifies longer days and warmer temperatures.
The first day of Spring is also known as the Vernal Equinox. This
marks the day that the Sun's path is directly over the equator. This day
also contains equal amount of daytime and nighttime. This day typically
occurs each year on March 20, and on March 21 on some years.
The First Day of
Spring is also called the Vernal Equinox.
·The
Vernal Equinox is the day of the year where there are exactly 12 hours of
daylight and 12 hours of dark in the Northern Hemisphere.
·On
the vernal equinox, the Sun crosses the equator into the Northern Hemisphere.
This has the effect of making the days longer in the Northern Hemisphere
until the Summer Solstice occurs.
·The
Egyptian Great Sphinx points directly at the Sun on this day.
Vernal Equinox-Spring Begins Top
Events and Things to Do
·Visit
a nursery and purchase seeds or plants.
·Start
your spring cleaning.
·Plan
your flower beds and garden.
·Put
away winter clothes and prepare summer clothes.
The International Day of
Happiness seeks to celebrate and promote world happiness as a fundamental human
goal. It recognizes the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced
approach to economic growth, one that promotes sustainable development, poverty
eradication, happiness and well-being of all people.
At the UN Conference on Happiness in 2012, the United Nations proclaimed the
International Day of Happiness. The day was celebrated for the first time on
March 20, 2013 in an effort to highlight the importance of global happiness and
its impact on world development and peace.
International
Day of Happiness Facts & Quotes
·There
are currently about 1.8 billion young people
in the world, more than ever before, creating an unprecedented opportunity for
economic and social progress. Many studies have proved the link between
happiness and productivity.
·Happiness
is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Mahatma
Ghandi
·At
this time of grave injustices, devastating wars, mass displacement, grinding
poverty and other manmade causes of suffering, the International Day of
Happiness is a global chance to assert that peace,
well-being and joy deserve primacy. — UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon
International Day of Happiness Top
Events and Things to Do
·Print
out and hang up posters of the Ten Keys to Happier
Living. Research
has proven that these ten keys have a positive impact on happiness and
well-being.
·Make
the effort to cross an item off of your bucket list. We all have dreams and
goals and fulfilling them creates happiness and a sense of accomplishment.
·Give
to others. Whether it's donating to a charity
of your choice, volunteering or giving a thoughtful gift, studies have found
that giving makes us happier.
·Reduce
the stress in your life. According to the American Psychological Association,
these are the 5 best ways to manage stress:
1) Take a break from the stressor
2) Exercise
3) Smile and laugh
4) Get social support
5) Meditate
·Watch
a movie about happiness. Our suggestions: Hector and the Search for
Happiness (2014), Eat, Pray, Love (2009), The Pursuit of
Happiness (2008), Bruce Almighty (2003), Click (2006) and The
Bucket List (2007).
Action for Happiness has developed the 10 Keys to Happier
Living based on a review of the latest scientific research relating to
happiness. Everyone’s path to happiness is different, but the research suggests
these Ten Keys consistently tend to have a positive impact on people’s overall
happiness and well-being. The first five (GREAT) relate to how we interact with
the outside world in our daily activities*. The second five (DREAM) come more
from inside us and depend on our attitude to life.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True
happiness can be found by strengthening one's friendship with God through a
love for sacred Scripture and the sacraments, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Christians today can find many role models in the saintly men and women who
lived throughout history. The pope described the life of the 13th-century
Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude the Great. Far from being a historical figure
stuck in the past, this "exceptional woman" remains for today's
faithful "a school of Christian life, a principled life, and she shows us
that at the heart of a happy and real life is friendship with Jesus". St.
Gertrude entered the monastery at a very young age and was an extremely
talented student. She loved literature and music and was diligently devoted to
her studies. However, when she was 24, she grew disgusted with her secular
pursuits. She said the sense of turmoil and anxiety she felt was a gift from
God, who was giving her a sign that she needed to "tear down that tower of
vanity and curiosity." While her ardent love of learning helped bring her
to religious life, the saint said it had gone too far and it was driven by
pride. From that moment on, St. Gertrude began to intensify her relationship
with God. She switched her studies from humanistic subjects to theological
works, and in her monastic life, she went from living what she called being
"negligent" to a life of intense prayer and missionary zeal. St.
Gertrude represents one of the most famous female mystics in church history,
and she's called "the Great" because of her "exceptional natural
and supernatural gifts." She displayed "a very profound humility, an
ardent zeal for the salvation of others, an intimate communion with God through
contemplation and a readiness to come to the aid of the needy". "True
happiness is the goal in our life," and the only way to find that kind of
happiness is in forging a friendship with God. "This friendship you learn
through a love for sacred Scripture, a love for the liturgy and (by
cultivating) a deep faith and a love for Mary in order to truly get to know God
better".
O
Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Refrain:
Deliver me, Jesus
From
the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...
That
others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That
others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world, others may, increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I
should…
The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of
St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine
of the apostle Saint James (Feast Day, July 25) the Great in the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds
that the remains of the apostle are buried. Wikipedia
6 Month
Action Plan
CaminoWays has partnered
with Peter from D-Pete Health and Fitness clinic to share this Camino Fitness
Plan and professional fitness advice to help you prepare for your Camino de Santiago trip.
Peter has created this
dedicated 6 Month Action Plan below, which is easy to print and follow.
The Camino Fitness
Plan below is a general fitness plan, but we would always recommend talking to
your doctor before undertaking any fitness plan. You can print or download this
sCamino fitness plan to show your doctor if necessary.
Month
6
Time / Distance: 25 –
30mins
Frequency: 3 times p/w
Progress:
Walk – jog – walk-jog
(interval training)
Include hiking gear (bag +
contents, jacket, shoes)
Change route: hills – steps
– uneven terrain.
Alternate days: 2 Train
days (back-to-back) – rest – Train – rest – Train….and so on!!
Month
5
Time: 40 – 60mins
Frequency: 3 times p/w
Progress:
Choose any of the previous
months.
5. Hiking trail: 1 -2
times p/w walk a local hiking trail; this will break you away from the
even surfaced roads and paths
Month
4
Time: 40 – 60mins
Frequency: 4 times p/w
Progress:
Choose any of the previous
months.
6. Cycle/ swim or jog one
of the 4 days for a variety
7. Attend the gym one of
the 4 training days for a variety
Month
3
Distance: 5 – 7Km
Frequency: 4 times p/w
Progress:
Choose any of the
previous months.
Month
2
Distance: 15Km for 1/2
times a week & 10Km for 1/2 times a week
Progress:
Choose any of the
previous months.
8. Add an additional 5
-10 pounds (roughly 2-5Kg) to your bag
Month
1
Distance: 20Km for 1/2
times a week & 10Km for 1/2 times a week Progress: Choose any of
the previous months
I hope you enjoyed our
Camino Fitness Plan prepared by the CaminoWays’ team and D-Pete Health Clinics.
There is a whole series of
Camino Preparation tips and advice on fitness we have prepared for you.
Continue reading our preparation and fitness plan by D-Pete:
[11]Sheraton, Mimi. 1,000 Foods
To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (p. 892). Workman Publishing
Company. Kindle Edition.
Nothing Sacred (1937)
🎬 Production Snapshot
Studio: Selznick International Pictures
Director: William A. Wellman
Release: 1937
Screenplay: Ben Hecht (uncredited rewrites by several others)
Stars: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Walter Connolly
Genre: Screwball satire / Media farce
Notable: One of the earliest Technicolor comedies; a rare Lombard–March pairing; a foundational “fake news” satire decades before the term existed.
🧭 Story Summary
Wally Cook (Fredric March), a disgraced New York reporter desperate for redemption, discovers Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a small‑town woman supposedly dying of radium poisoning. He brings her to New York as a tragic heroine, and the city explodes with adoration—banquets, parades, charity drives, and endless newspaper coverage.
But Hazel isn’t dying. Her doctor misdiagnosed her, and she decides to ride the wave of sympathy a little longer. Wally, believing her doomed, falls in love with her. Hazel, trapped in her lie, tries to confess but is swept up in the city’s appetite for melodrama. When the truth finally threatens to surface, the machinery of publicity becomes even more absurd: the city needs her to be dying, and the newspapers would rather preserve the myth than face the truth.
The film ends with Hazel and Wally escaping the circus entirely—alive, married, and leaving New York to choke on its own sensationalism.
🕰 Historical and Cultural Context
Media sensationalism was already a national anxiety. The 1930s saw tabloid wars, Hearst influence, and the rise of celebrity journalism. The film exaggerates—but only slightly.
Public appetite for tragedy was booming. Depression-era audiences devoured stories of suffering, martyrdom, and “human interest” uplift.
Technicolor comedy was rare. Wellman uses color not for beauty but for garishness—a visual metaphor for a city drunk on spectacle.
Ben Hecht’s cynicism is the film’s spine. A former Chicago reporter, he knew exactly how newsrooms manufactured emotion.
✝️ Catholic Moral Resonances
Even though the film is secular and cynical, it opens rich moral territory:
1. Truth vs. Performance
Hazel’s lie begins as self-protection but becomes a trap. The film exposes how easily society rewards performed suffering over authentic virtue.
Catholic moral tradition insists that truth is not merely factual but relational—ordered toward the good of others. Hazel’s deception fractures every relationship around her.
2. The Temptation of False Martyrdom
Hazel becomes a “saint of the tabloids,” adored precisely because she is believed to be dying.
This mirrors the spiritual temptation to seek admiration for suffering rather than holiness—martyrdom without sacrifice.
3. Media as a Distortion of Human Dignity
The city treats Hazel not as a person but as a symbol.
Catholic anthropology insists on the inviolable dignity of the human person; the film shows what happens when a society forgets this and turns people into consumable narratives.
4. Redemption Through Escape, Not Applause
Hazel and Wally’s final act—leaving the city and its lies—echoes the biblical pattern of exodus.
Sometimes the only path to integrity is to walk away from systems that reward vice.
🍷 Hospitality Pairing
Drink:The Tabloid Spritz — light, bubbly, slightly bitter (Aperol or Campari with soda). A nod to the fizzy, gaudy world of publicity.
Snack: A simple charcuterie board—bright, colorful, arranged almost too perfectly. It mirrors the film’s theme: beauty arranged for display, not substance.
Atmosphere:
Warm lighting
A newspaper spread on the table (real or symbolic)
A sense of theatricality—because the film is about how easily we stage our own lives
🪞 Reflection Prompt
Where in your life are you tempted to perform a version of yourself—suffering, success, virtue, or tragedy—because you believe others expect it? And what would it look like to step out of that performance and live in the freedom of truth?
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