CIMON AND PERO

 

       This painting of a young woman breastfeeding an old man in a prison cell was sold for Euros 30 million. The painting may look perverse but the story behind is from historical records.
       The poor man was sentenced to "death by starvation" for stealing a loaf of bread during the reign of Louis XIV in France. The woman was his only daughter and the only visitor to his cell. She was allowed to visit him daily but was frisked thoroughly such that no food was taken in.
       When after 4 months the man still survived with no weight loss, the authorities were perplexed and started spying on her in the cell and to their utter astonishment found her to breastfeed her father to the fullest sharing her baby's milk. The judges then realizing the compassion and love of the woman for her father, pardoned the father and set him free.
       This piece of history brings into focus how deep is a woman's compassion in our daily lives that men often tend to overlook.
       This painting is "La charité romaine" by Jules Lefebvre, and it's about a Roman story about Cimon and his daughter Pero.

 

 

 

DARK

 

 I never get bored; my mind's too active.  But once when I came close, and my mind was less active, I wrote this:

 

DARK 

 

From countless bats and rattling chains
I ventured out among the plains
And wandered off with ghostly skin
To lose the memories lost within.

But as it stood the night came on,
I lay in wait for coming dawn
But darkness seemed to last for ages,
I saw my book but not its pages.

Something hopped across my trail,
Its shadow cast in moonlight pale,
I began to doubt my purpose here,
For where I left was far from near.

So insecure I sat and waited,
What hopes I had I fear I hated,
My journey from the cave was done
To dread the rising of the sun.

 

 

 

WHO SAVED ROME FROM ATTILA THE HUN?

 

 Who saved Rome from Attila the Hun
…without ever drawing a blade?

In the 5th century, when it should have been flourishing as a now-Christian kingdom, the Roman Empire was a disaster in every sense of the word.

Barbarian tribes—Visigoths, Vandals—were wreaking havoc on all sides. The Empire had little fight to offer them, and not because the Romans were poorly supplied or incompetent. It was because the Empire was spiritually and morally dead.

Far from becoming a kingdom of God in the century following the Edict of Milan, the Empire had fallen victim to widespread, atrocious immorality; political intrigue; and violence. It had developed an identity that was anything but Christian.

St. Augustine, during a Vandal siege of Hippo, lamented the corruption of the city’s society: “Enough of your weeping and wailing!” he told them. “Are you not yourselves responsible for this fate which is overwhelming you?”

Just when things couldn’t get any worse, the Huns showed up. Arriving from the steppes of central Asia, this equestrian horde—deadly accurate with their bows and adept at battle—struck fear into everyone who heard of them. Led by their intelligent and ruthless leader, Attila, they attacked the West in 451, tearing through Gaul (though the bishop St. Lupus turned Attila away from Troyes, and the prayers of St. Genevieve and the women of Paris spared that city as well).

After a serious setback in Gaul, Attila attacked Italy, and the trail of destruction commenced. As the Huns marched towards Rome, Pope Leo—who would be known as “the Great”—prayed intensely for God’s intervention, though he knew well that the spiritual bankruptcy of the Empire did not merit anything but a good rain of fire.

Pope Leo then went to meet Attila in person. Accompanied by monks and clerics carrying monstrances and crosses, as well as a delegation of Roman officials, Pope Leo came face-to-face with Attila at the River Mincio in northern Italy. Attila crossed the river and spoke cordially with the Pope, then went back across the river, took his armies, and left Italy.

What did Pope Leo say? No one knows. Some historians say the Roman officials gave Attila a ransom; some say the Hun had practical reasons for leaving Italy, such as climate or food shortages. But whatever transpired that day, Attila—dubbed “the Scourge of God”—had been turned away.

The story of Pope Leo the Great and Attila the Hun illustrates to us that the biggest battles are fought on the spiritual plane. Rome’s immorality was its undoing; the prayers of a holy man proved its salvation.

Let us pray as Pope Leo did for the salvation of our own country and society. Take up the weapon of the Rosary, and be not afraid of the might of the enemy.

[courtesy of GET FED ~ Bite-Sized Faith from The Catholic Company]

 

I couldn't resist: 

 

 

MOM'S FAVORITE QUOTATIONS

 

In looking through her notebooks after Mom died, I found her collection of quotations:

 

 "The more good we find to say about a person, the more good that person will become."

"Charity begins at home, and generally dies from lack of outdoor exercise."

"Giving out the best today is the recipe for a better tomorrow."

"You'll be happier if you give people a bit of your heart rather than a piece of your mind."

"The vision to see, the faith to believe and the will to do will take you anywhere."

"One of the best things a person can have up his sleeve is a funny bone."

"There are two kinds of fishermen—those who insist they fish for sport and those who catch something."

"One of the greatest labor saving devices of today is tomorrow."

"To share with a friend is to see twice the beauty."

"See as a child sees—the joy, the wonder, the hope."

"More knowledge enters your head through open ears than through an open mouth."

"A house is built by human hands, but a home is built by human hearts."

"Kind words never wear out the tongue."

"Ideas bring in nothing unless carried out."

"If we don't appreciate what we have, we could be miserable in paradise."

"Do not let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do."

"The trouble with experience is that it usually teaches you something you really didn't want to know."

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say.  I just watch what they do."

"Happiness consists not in possessing much, but in being content with what we possess."

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you can't do."

"Success comes in cans, not in can'ts."

"For some, the most satisfying kind of gardening is planting oneself in a lawn chair."

"Don't count your years.  Make your years count."

"Children need models more than they need critics."

"Only a child can catch a raindrop or see the value in puddles."

"Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes."

"Love is the one commodity that multiplies when you give it away."

"Goals are dreams with deadlines."

"The federal income tax was introduced as a temporary measure—on February 25, 1913."

"Tact is the act of convincing people that they know more than you do."

"It's better to give than to lend, and it costs about the same."

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizons."

"Speak kind words and you'll hear kind echoes."

"It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart."

"There are three kinds of people:
those who make things happen,
those who watch things happen,
and those who wonder what happened."

"Make more friends.  Almost anyone will make a better friend than an enemy."

"Success lies in doing not what others consider to be great, but what you consider to be right."

"Make the most of yourself, for that's all there is of you."

"Nonchalance is the ability to remain down-to-earth when everything else is up in the air."

"Social Security:  A government guarantee of a steak in your old age—when your teeth are all gone."

"Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head and keeps pecking away until he finishes the job he starts."

"Simplicity is making the journey through life with just enough baggage."

"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh—at yourself."

"Remember when TV bloopers were rare mistakes, not entire shows?"

"Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and annoys the pig."

"We need old friends to help us grow old and new friends to help us stay young."

"All of us are smart at ages 5 and 18.  At 5 we know all the questions, and at 18 we know all the answers."

"The person who doesn't know something can't be done will often find a way to go ahead and do it."

"We need a few clouds in our lives to make beautiful sunsets."

"Recall it as often as you wish—a happy memory never wears out."

"Children may close their ears to advice, but they open their eyes to example."

"People who do things that count never stop to count them."

"Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows."

"An attitude of gratitude can make your life a beatitude."

"Character is like the foundation of a house—it's below the surface."

"Some people treat God like a lawyer—they go to Him only when they're in trouble."

"When you fly, think of only three things:  Faith, hope, and gravity."

"Age is mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

"The world turns aside to let any man pass who is sure where he's going."

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it."

"Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of God."

"Why didn't Noah just swat those two flies?"

"The older generation thought nothing of getting up at 5 a.m.  The younger generation doesn't think much of it either."

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

"A smile is a light in your face to show your heart is at home."

"The talents we are given are our gift from God. 
How we use them is our gift to God."

"Feed your faith and your worries will starve to death."

"There is no limit to the good you can do in this world if you don't care who gets the credit."

"He who hesitates gets left-overs."

"Worrying about cholesterol is a leading cause of high blood pressure."

"Don't worry about things you are powerless to change."

"Respect other people whether they agree with you or not."

Make just one word.
D N R O S U W T E J O

"Don't take tomorrow to bed with you."

"You can't get rid of your temper by losing it."

"Keep smiling.  It makes people wonder what you've been up to."

KOREAN DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL

If your service branch neglected to give you a deserved medal, here's what you do:

Branson MO 
October 16, 2014

National Personnel Records Center
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63138

Dear Sir:

    I never received the Korea Defense Service Medal that I've heard I'm entitled to.  I served in the United States Army at Camp Ames, South Korea from December 1968 to January 1970.  Enclosed is a copy of my form DD214.  If any more verification is needed, please let me know.  It would be an honor finally to receive my medal now at age 65.

Sincerely,

 Dale E. Lund 

 

And there you go: