All Else Confusion

Fumare is reporting on the Ave Maria School of Law Board of Govenors vote to relocate the school to Florida, where Ave Maria University is located. There has been much opposition to this decision and to the overall govenance of the school from Faculty, Alumni, and students - much of which has been chronicled on Fumare and other blogs.

Labels: Ave Maria

Several years ago, I attended Mardi Gras with a good friend from New Orleans. We had been planning to get together for some time, but hadn't found the right time. Then, she told me that she would be entering the convent soon. So, the next opportunity (which just happened to be the week of Mardi Gras) I boarded a plane to visit. I'll never forget how much fun Mardi Gras was, and how real the transition from the parties of Carnival to the starkness was Ash Wednesday felt. Since then, I have made it a point to host my own Mardi Gras party each year, a party that ends promptly at midnight with a prayer for a good Lent.

Labels: Catholic life

I never thought I'd see the day when I would be happy to have a snow storm. But, after a winter of almost no snow - Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina have had more snow than us up here in Massachusetts - it was nice to see the white stuff coming down last night. The storm only left about 3 inches - not bad for shoveling and since it's a nice sunny day today it's melting very nicely off the pavement - but it does look pretty. And, my nephew couldn't wait to get into his snow pants!

I certainly don't mind a little winter when I know that winter's almost gone (Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow yesterday so there's only 4 weeks left of winter)!

Please pray for a friend from college who is suffering from breast cancer. She was diagnosed a few years ago, and underwent a treatment of chemo. She and her husband were out East for a baptism last spring and she looked great. The tests had come back that she was cancer free. However, I just got word that the lastest test showed that the cancer had come back and had spread to her bones. Right now, the doctors are saying she has 2-3 years.

Please pray for her, for her husband, and for their young children.

Labels: prayer request

Today is the Feast of St. Blase, bishop and martyr. St. Blase was martyred in his episcipal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. Legend has it that as St. Blase was being dragged off to prison, a mother brought him her young son who had a fish bone stuck in her throat. At Blase's command, the chid was able to cough up the bone. Thus, St. Blase became the patron of those with throat ailments. Annually, Catholics in the United States receive a special blessing of their throats (usually on the Sunday closest to the feast) in which the intercession of St. Blase is invoked to protect against all throat ailments.

“Through the intercession of St. Blase, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

Labels: Feast Day