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Minority Report

I attended mass/liturgy at an ethnic church yesterday-- St. Rafka --in the next town over from me. I had previously attended a Sunday evening liturgy with my family, but this time I was alone. The first time we went it was rather sparsely attended as their festival was occurring in the parking lot, so most parishioners were, I imagine, at the festival. Not to mention that Sunday evening services are only attended by those most serious about their faith. The liturgy was in English, though a few prayers were in Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic--the language Jesus spoke). Did I mention this was a Maronite-rite Catholic church? The Maronite rite is one of many in the Catholic church--known most famously for the Roman rite--that's what everyone thinks of when they hear or think of Catholic church. Anyway, this is a primarily Lebanese rite. Attendance yesterday was substantially more than the evening in August previously attended. And the prayers and songs! Many, many were in Arabic

Worth Quoting

Man lives by plants. Plants live in the soil. The soil is a kind of factory in which the life force of plants, using plant food from earth, air, and water, and assisted by bacteria and the elements of the weather, changes these natural elements into forms that we can eat and wear, manufacture and burn, or use for building material. This precious soil from which we have our physical being is only a very thin skin upon the earth. --J. Russell Smith, Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture  

Worth Quoting

"Therefore whoever is not illuminated by such great splendors in created things is blind. Anyone who is not awakened by such great outcries is deaf. Anyone who is not led from such great effects to give praise to God is mute. Anyone who does not turn to the First Principle as a result of such signs is a fool.Therefore open your eyes, alert your spiritual ears, unlock your lips and apply your heart, so that in all the creatures you may see, hear, praise, love and adore, magnify and honor God, lest the entire world rise up against you." -- St. Bonaventure,  Itinerarium mentis in Deum