October 17, 2020
Good Morning, God and All! Through your abiding presence, keep us safe from all harm and from every evil!
By The Numbers:
It’s the 291st day of the year, with 75 days remaining.
Days remaining in the current election cycle: 17
Number of attributes to Our Lady in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary alone: 48
Number of Marian feast days in the calendar year, according to catholictradition.org: 361
Start Your Day With A Song:
Hail Mary, Gentle Woman (1975) Writer: Carey Landry; Performance: Rudolfinerhaus Chor
Our Lady of Victory, Pray For Us!
There are several feasts, in various churches, celebrated under this title. The best known are:
(1) October 7, in commemoration of the naval victory near Lepanto in southwestern Greece on October 7, 1571; instituted the same year as a greater double by Pius V; changed by Gregory XIII on April 1, 1573, into the feast of the Holy Rosary, first Sunday of October. The original feast, October 7, is still celebrated in many churches, e. g in the dioceses of Messina and Nicosia, in the Church of Nuestra Senora del Palan, at Barcelona, Spain, and elsewhere.
(2) Fourth Sunday of October (Our Lady of Victories), double of the first cia915 With octave, kept in the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, Paris, in thanksgiving for the victory of Louis XIII over the Calvinists after the siege of La Rochelle in 1628. The celebrated Archconfraternity of Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, originated in this church.
(3) Second Sunday of November, at Prague, Bohernia, in the Carmelite church; and at Rome in Santa Maria della Vittoria, double of the first class, in commemoration of the battle of Weissenberg on November 8, 1620. Formerly this feast was celebrated all over Bohemia and Silesia (double of the second class, Decree of July 13, 1675).
(4) At Toledo, Spain, September 6, greater double, in thanksgiving for the victory of the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand at Nordlingen, September 6, 1634.
(5) The last Sunday of September, in the Diocese of Marsi, Italy, in commemoration of the victory of Charles of Anjou over Conradin at Tagliocozzo in 1268.
(Source: Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910, at Catholic Answers website)
Mom Always Liked You Best (the Message):
In the latest attempt to isolate everyone from each other, the Center for Disease Control is reminding us that the best way to keep in touch with family is not to visit or hold gatherings with them during the upcoming winter holidays Rather, to borrow an old phone company catchphrase, “long distance is the next best thing to being there,” and technology is all too happy to help. With all the advancements since that phrase was coined by Ma Bell about sixty years ago, we have the means - if not the demand - to “reach out and touch” those we love, as long as you do so through a video screen. Otherwise, the six-foot-separation and face covering rules are in effect; and it appears that it’s being extended to inside your own home or car (recommended).
Back in the days of those slogans, long distance calling wasn’t cheap. While I don’t have particulars or what those particulars would be now allowing for inflation, I was acutely aware of them. My mother was transplanted from New Jersey, and calling back to them was something you only did on special occasions or possibly once or twice a month. Because it was Mom’s family, only Mom would get to talk to them. Rarely would my siblings and I have an opportunity to speak to our East Coast relatives on the phone.
Those days were in the domain of the US Postal Service. It was often recommended that we keep in touch as “pen pals”, writing letters. At one time, classroom education included the basics of letter writing, both personal and business styles. I got rather good at this, which is one of the reasons why I compose these reflections even now.
Anyway, I was writing letters to Mom’s Mom back East once or twice a month for (I want to say) a couple of years until she passed away in the late 1960s. I recall that the last letter I wrote to her never got mailed as I had written it only days before she died. Years later Mom would tell me that she found the letter in a drawer of her dresser, which she opened, read…and cried afterward.
As Mom’s health slowly declined, Nick and I would go see her - she was still living at home - every other Monday evening and watch “Wheel of Fortune” and the beginning of “Dancing With the Stars” with her. I know she appreciated the company. I honestly didn’t know of anything better to do, I thought to myself, as I drove home listening to the Monday night football game on the radio.
The line “Mom always liked you best” was also a product of the 1960s, part of the shtick of the Smothers Brothers. Part of their comedy routine would pit the brothers against each other, often as if they were children. All that seems to have done was to amplify any existing sibling rivalries in an attempt to become the ‘favored’ one.
I don’t know that Mom had a particular favorite among my siblings and me while we were growing up. We all gave her our disproportionate share of grief among the long list of things we needed her help doing, whether it was running interference from Dad when we wanted something, or lugging a string bass across town, or attending any of the myriad of events in which we participated.
I came to a deeper relationship with the Holy Mother of God, Mary, much later, after both Mom and my wife Diane passed away. It’s a relationship that I struggle with, as many relationships do. Given her many titles, as well as the highest title the Church affords her (Medatrix of All Graces), it just seems to amplify how I dealt with big issues in my childhood; that is, “go (pray) to Mom.” Some, for the sake of simplicity, simply wish acclaim Mary as Goddess. That just isn’t done. It would make the weave of divine mysteries that much harder to understand, let alone navigate. Still, across the centuries, Catholic Christian writers have pointed that the best path to Jesus is through Mary, his mother.
The New Testament doesn’t provide any clues, but I’m pretty confident in saying that whenever Jesus’ travels brought him close, Mary would be there, in the background, listening. After Joseph died, it’s quite possible that she traveled with her son and his apostles who looked after her; particularly the youngest, John. Jesus entrusted Mary’s future care to John as he hung upon the cross (Jn 19:25-27), and I can imagine that up to that time there were countless conversations between the two. Still, Mary teaches us to love one another, and points the way to Jesus. Mary is the patroness of our nation and of the American continents. In these most uncertain times, may the faithful direct their prayers to Christ through our blessed Mother.
Memorable Moments:
1091 – London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.
1534 – Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass.
1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded.
1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood.
1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service.
1919 – RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
1945 – A massive demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release.
1965 – The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees.
1973 – OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act creates the US Department of Education.
1979 – Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1992 – Only in America: Having gone to the wrong house for a costume party, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
2005 – The Colbert Report, an American satirical news television program and talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, premiered on Comedy Central.
2018 – The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada.
Happy Birthday!!!
1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
1912 – Pope John Paul I, Catholic pope from August 1978- September 1978 (d. 1978)
1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
1930 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (d. 2003)
1933 – The Singing Nun, Belgian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and nun (d. 1985)
1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle rider and stuntman (d. 2007)
1942 – Gary Puckett, American pop singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Michael McKean, American singer-songwriter, actor, and director
1948 – Margot Kidder, Canadian-American actress (d. 2018)
1948 – George Wendt, American actor and comedian
1957 – Steve McMichael, American football player, wrestler, and sportscaster
1959 – Norm Macdonald, Canadian actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1972 – Eminem, American rapper, producer, and actor
We Remember:
1690 – Margaret Mary Alacoque, French mystic and saint (b. 1647)
1849 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1810)
1991 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (b. 1919)
2007 – Joey Bishop, American actor and talk show host (b. 1918)
2007 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (b. 1931)
2008 – Levi Stubbs, American singer (b. 1936)
2009 – Vic Mizzy, American composer (b. 1916)
2013 – Mother Antonia, American-Mexican nun and activist (b. 1926)
Parting Words:
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God (we are in great need of it!)…that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Until we meet again, may God be with you…and may God have mercy on us all…
+the Phoenix
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