Prayers
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A Wonderful Plan
This morning I read a post by Dr. Bruce Charlton, a post examining the idea of finding the spiritual — the significant — in everyday life. Dr. Charlton uses Rudolf Steiner as a platform from which to dive into this topic. I had never heard of Steiner before reading of him in the past on Dr. Charlton’s blog, and I will confess that my attempts to read Steiner have not panned out well. I lack the intellectual muscle-tone to heft this sort of weighty writing (I often have to read some of Dr. Charlton’s essays several times before I can grasp the points he is making). But the central idea…
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Fragility Of Life
I took a long, slow walk last evening, saying my Rosary as I strolled. Tiny spring flowers were peeking up through the mast, winking in the dimming light, reminding me that life returns, that certain promises are always kept. While whispering the ancient prayers, I also kept an eye out for the bull over whose health I have been so concerned lately. I never saw him. I will continue to look for him, and in the meantime, I will continue to hope that he was healed as miraculously as our little dog Dixee was. I hope he is on a sunny slope this morning, cropping grass and eyeing the cows…
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The Tenacity Of Unbelief
When I came home yesterday, I walked for a long time, looking for the sick bull. I never did find him. But my wife brought Dixee home from the vet. The little creature had been checked from stem to stern, ultrasound, lab work, pokings and proddings….and had been pronounced sound. No sign of anything amiss. “Perhaps it’s gas!” said the helpful vet. Our small dog clearly felt much better, ate a good supper, ran with speed and joy, and slept at our feet during the evening hours before bedtime. We talked much about her symptoms, the scare she’d given us, and the vet’s pronouncements. We decided that gas might be…
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All Wistful Creatures
I want to ask anyone reading this to pray for a bull. The bull belongs to a farmer who owns the land adjacent to mine. This man does not display kindness nor warmth, especially towards his animals. He once let a cow suffer for days, sprawled in a mud hole in icy rain rather than put her out of her misery. I once rescued a calf belonging to his son, and when I called across the fields to the young man to get his attention, he snapped at me in the rudest way possible, and did not even thank me for saving and returning the calf. Coarse behavior and misanthropic…