Irish for 'sorrow'

We can almost hear them, muttering quietly like the fire… ~Commentary on A Fire Shared by Peter Didsbury

A Fire Shared

This evening I have spent
in the Irishwoman's room.
A fire shared is a fire cheaper.

 A twelvemonth since
I knew her not at all.
Our hearths were crowded then
but now it is fitting
that one of them bides cold.
A fire shared is a fire cheaper by far.

 She has enough English now
for January tales
of our slavering bargeist
which stalks these dark flagged yards
intent on the taking of children.
She would not have understood a year ago.

 A year ago her English was just enough
for blessing or cursing,
to ask the price of bread
or direction to a pump.
But now a fire shared
is a fine instructive tutor.

 She has enough English now
to match my bargeists and goblins
with pookas and suchlike,
and I find I have learned what these are,
from many a night
spent sharing and cheapening fire.

A twelvemonth ago I would not have known
the Irish for 'sorrow', 'cholera', 'children',
or who stood by me at the same wide grave-mouth
as we wept after each of our fashions.
But now I know these things,
which are things I have learned
in the school of the ruined hearth,
which is held in both our rooms,
where a fire shared
is the cheapest fire of all.

===================

   I have prayed for a year to re-find this poem and I found it in the 'blessings' folder.

Anecdotal Evidence: `Here We Can Safely Defy the Fates'

Anecdotal Evidence: `Here We Can Safely Defy the Fates'

Anecdotal Evidence: `They Are Noble Fellows All Round'

Anecdotal Evidence: `They Are Noble Fellows All Round'
Excerpt:
“You will generally observe that, of all Americans, your foreign-born citizens are the most patriotic--especially toward the Fourth of July.”...
I remembered it Monday afternoon when a technician born in Rumania administered my echocardiogram, a cardiologist from Syria examined me and a Mexican-born mechanic give me a lift home from his garage. The narrator, White-Jacket, reports:

“It is sometimes the custom in the American Navy to celebrate this national holiday by doubling the allowance of spirits to the men; that is, if the ship happen to be lying in harbour. The effects of this patriotic plan may be easily imagined: the whole ship is converted into a dram-shop; and the intoxicated sailors reel about, on all three decks, singing, howling, and fighting.”...

Supporter of liberation theology named next head of CDF « A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

Supporter of liberation theology named next head of CDF « A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics
Excerpt:
When I first heard of this, I prayed it would not come to pass.  I’ve been praying for it since.  Apparently, my prayers were not availing.  Archbishop Gerhard Muller has been named the next Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has named Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Bishop of Regensburg, new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (as well as the related positions of President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission), upon accepting the resignation of Cardinal Levada, who reached the age limit.

Bishop Muller was a student of, and some indications say even a disciple of, Fr. Gutierrez, the man who concocted the disastrous notion of liberation theology in the first place.  Rorate Caeli has noted a number of other extremely concerning beliefs of Bishop Muller, unassociated with the, by itself, very concerning liberation theology...

What the Popes say about socialism « A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

What the Popes say about socialism « A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics
Excerpt:

TFP Student Action has a great post with quotes from popes going back to Pius IX against the evil of socialism.  And yet, socialist is what this country becomes more and more every day.  Some of the quotes:
BLESSED POPE PIUS IX (1846-1878)
The Overthrow of Order
“You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot is to drive people to overthrow the entire order of human affairs and to draw them over to the wicked theories of this Socialism and Communism, by confusing them with perverted teachings.”
(Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, December 8, 1849)
LEO XIII (1878-1903)
Overthrow is Deliberately Planned
“… For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow. Yea, this change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of communists and socialists.”
(Encyclical Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884, n. 27)
Debasing the Natural Union of Man and Woman
“They [socialists, communists, or nihilists] debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust.
(Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1)

Mental illness: a child's demons, a parent's fears and hopes | Opinion | The Seattle Times

Mental illness: a child's demons, a parent's fears and hopes | Opinion | The Seattle Times

In the wake of the Cafe Racer shootings, the parent of an adult son with paranoid schizophrenia writes about the heavy burden on families of people with mental illness.

By Farrell Adrian

Excerpt:

FOR the past two weeks, I have been pondering Ian Stawicki's family, how some people have commented that they should have done more for him, whether they should have taken his guns away before he killed four people at Cafe Racer and one near Town Hall.
The family's burden lies heavy on me because I am the parent of a son about Ian's age, who has lived with paranoid schizophrenia the past 18 years.
For the past nine years I have been teaching a class for parents whose children have a mental illness. I tell the public that recovery is possible in even the most serious cases of mental illness.
I believe this. My son's story is a case in point: He works part time, has his own apartment, cares for two cats and most of all, loves our family and treats us well.
However, recovery does not mean that families with a mentally ill child have also recovered.
All the families I have taught — more than 200 — are deeply grief-stricken. They live with a continual, corrosive fear. They are always hyper-alert. They lack support because people fear mental illness and stay away.
They are often blamed for their child's behavior and they often blame themselves because it could be their gene that brought this on their child. They feel as if they can never do enough and they often spend every dime they can find to mitigate the effects, while knowing there is no cure...
...
I deal with depression and anxiety. I will never be able to retire. But my son smiles now and is proud of the life he has made despite his illness. It takes incredible bravery to build a life of worth when you can't rely on your brain to give you factual information about your world. I am enormously proud of both him and his sister, who remains his most faithful champion.
If you want to assign blame, lay it at the doorstep of all of us who refuse to care for those among us who truly cannot care for themselves, all of us who have not urged our legislators to fund critical programs that help our children get treatment, housing and employment.
Here are a few things we can get to work on right away:
• Fund hospital stays long enough and early enough in the course of the illness so our children can learn the skills to deal with their illness.
• Hold the State Health Care Authority accountable for creating barriers that force doctors to choose the cheapest — instead of the best — medication for our children. Their latest, hastily cobbled together plan is the most restrictive in the nation.
• Help us change the involuntary-treatment laws that say that our child can't receive hospital care unless he or she will almost certainly die or seriously harm others within the next few hours. Instead, allow hospitalization when there is a "substantial" risk, not just an "imminent" risk.
We all have a part to play to prevent such tragedies in the future. We all have some responsibility, not just Stawicki's family and not just mine. We parents desperately need your help.
Farrell Adrian is president of the Washington State Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

 http://www.namiwa.org/content/mental-illness-childs-demons-parents-fears-and-hopes

Bring Change 2 Mind:  Working together to erase the stigma and discrimination of mental illness.

Happy Catholic©: Well Said: Thankfulness

Happy Catholic:© Well Said: Thankfulness
Excerpt:

One prayer of thanksgiving when things go badly is worth a thousand when things go well.

St. John of the Cross

This is nice advice to read, but it really proves its worth when practiced. A number of things...