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Sunshine Sandy Splendiforously Shines: making sense of it all
Today the sun is shining, while last night the full moon lit up the blue ridges of the forest here on Holy Souls Mountain. We’re right on the edge of the storm, and only got a taste of it yesterday,...
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How to Be a Saint — A Holy Souls Hermitage Special
By way of the grace of Mary Immaculate’s Divine Son, Christ our God, be in (1) humble (2) thanksgiving to Him for His having taken on what we deserve for original sin and any personal sin, namely...
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How not to go to purgatory: This is really cool (so to speak)
This is the gargantuan wall mural taking up a very large section of the Dominican community’s chapel at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, where, besides other...
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“how much does a donkey weigh”— A Holy Souls Hermitage Special (on depression...
There are, of course, a zillion people who come to the blog by way of search engines. I can see the first few words of any search on any given day in the stats page of the blog. Sometimes there are...
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Graduating in Jesus’ life: How the Great Pornchai “Super-Max” Moontri did it
The Great Pornchai “Super-Max” Moontri (with “Max” referring not only to his prison, but to his confirmation patron, another ultra-super-max prisoner, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, O.F.M.Conv., Priest and...
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Father Gordon MacRae, a.k.a., Super-Geek Astronomer (what a refreshing article)
Before starting with this post, take a close look at that picture above. Note, to the left, what we are to be like to reach the final frontier, our heavenly homeland. Great insight by Vincenzo the...
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Inner peace after the election — Hah! — A bit of humor…
Sent in by a reader: A doctor on TV said that in order to have inner peace in our lives after this election, we should always finish things that we start. Since we all could use more calm in our lives,...
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Lost chicken back, but Laudie has disappeared, until… (and some thoughts on...
The head hen that was chased off by the rooster was back again after having gone missing for some 30 hours. I was hoping she would come back. A neighbor said that there was a terrible chicken battle...
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Ad orientem sky on fire. The angels of Holy Souls Hermitage. Yikes!
Suddenly, there was a bright orange glow filling the hermitage. It was not the ad interim sanctuary candle (while some construction goes on), but rather the sunrise breaking through the clouds. On my...
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Father George privileged to be “doing time” with the Great Pornchai...
A package arrived at Holy Souls Hermitage from the New Hampshire State Prison for Men. It’s from Pornchai. What could it be? Let’s investigate. Something made from wood. Better take off the rest of...
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Brief thoughts on Christ the King, Son of the Immaculate Conception!
Christus Rex. Christ the King. Today’s Feast Day in the Ordinary Form Calendar. In the Extraordinary Form, this falls on the last Sunday of October. I suppose that the reasoning of the transposition of...
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Update: The Holy Souls Hermitage annual Christmas-Parties-During-Advent-Poll...
Update: http://raisinglittlesaints.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-colossal-set-of-resources-for-advent.html What a great homeschooling FSSP promoting Catholic mom’s blog! Totally cool! The screen shot of the...
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Laudie, the guard dog, ever vigilant (and a note on Saint Teresa of Avila...
I’m sorry, but these two pictures of Laudie guarding Holy Souls Hermitage in her sleep… …remind me of Saint Teresa of Avila saying that she learned how to keep one eye open, if you will, so to speak,...
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Seeing the Cross in all things. Holy Souls Hermitage and the Poor Clares of...
I spotted this scene about a hundred yards down Holy Souls Mountain, a red oak that broke off up in the canopy of the forest and then found itself as a cross beam some fifty feet long and about twenty...
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Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin and this priest, a sinner
I … I, who am so proud and arrogant… I, who am so impatient and judgmental… I, who am so obtuse and self-centered… I, who know so little of prayer… I, who am a poor sinner… I ask Saint Juan Diego for...
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Every last thing I was told about John the Baptist was a lie… for decades…...
Holy Mother Church spends a great deal of time in the Sacred Liturgy calling to mind the texts of Sacred Scripture referring to Saint John the Baptist, to the end of letting his eager expectation of...
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Saint John of the Cross and this little hermit
The above picture of the Order of Discalced Carmelite Monastery, situated above the famed biblical cave of Saint Elijah, was taken by yours truly in the Spring of 2009. I have a long, long, long...
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Finally, picturing this about the Great Pornchai Maximilian Moontri (On what...
Front and center, surrounded by friends and fellow graduates. Remember this post on Pornchai’s graduation over on These Stone Walls? I know that a certain Godmother of Pornchai will be wondering how I...
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(update: all talks now available) Do your Advent Retreat even now: Seven easy...
Life long friend Father Reto Nay of Gloria TV has produced an awesome, enjoyable, challenging, CATHOLIC advent retreat based on the O Antiphons which he brilliantly juxtaposes to the Seven Sacraments....
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Holy Souls Hermitage on FIRE with ad orientem! On Fire, I say!
The picture of this ad orientem sunrise in the chapel of Holy Souls Hermitage was taken on the 4th Sunday of Advent 2012. The spectacular show only lasts a few moments, followed by all that which is...
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Some Christmas Experiences of a Pre-Hermit Life (Yikes!)
It was Christmas morning, before daybreak, and I was the only one awake in the whole house. I had already been awake for a good while, filled with a sense that sacred mysteries were being revealed....
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(Part 1) Father George David Byers reminisces about his own childhood rape...
Just me, just another little kid, into whose life the Lord would intervene in a powerful way. Thank you, Jesus! You are just so totally cool! I can’t wait to meet you in heaven. I’ve already taken note...
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(Part 2) Father George David Byers reminisces about his own childhood rape...
[Part 1 HERE - suffering a failed but violent rape] [Part 2 HERE - unwitting stardom in kiddie-porn films] [Part 3 HERE - a suggestion] [Part 4 HERE- angels!] [Part 5 HERE - responding to some...
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(Part 3) Father George David Byers reminisces about his own childhood rape...
Just me, at, I think, eleven years old. I think I could climb just about any tree anywhere. My first outrageous climb was in kindergarten, when we were taken to the city park alongside the Mississippi....
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(Part 4) The fiery love of angels melting the ice of our hearts. It’s normal....
[Part 1 HERE - suffering a failed but violent rape] [Part 2 HERE - unwitting stardom in kiddie-porn films] [Part 3 HERE - a suggestion] [Part 4 HERE- angels!] [Part 5 HERE - responding to some...
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My vocation to the priesthood at 2 ½ years old, meriting a severe warning...
I think that this might have been a photo of the Saint Cloud Daily Times in the Autumn of 1959, when my brother is about fourteen months old, and I’m just four months or so in the womb of my mom. Those...
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Autobiography – Chapter 5 – The Living Dead and coming to know the Prince of...
Lourdes during a 2012 pilgrimage — You’ll meet many of the walking dead at Lourdes. They couldn’t be more alive. So many do not look for any entitlements for health and well being when they meet their...
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“The sower went out to sow…” Great! An easy parable! I don’t have to listen!...
Dominica in Sexagesima… In illo témpore: Cum turba plúrima convenírent, et de civitátibus properárent ad Iesum, dixit per similitúdinem: Exiit, qui séminat, semináre semen suum… The parable of the...
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JESUS AFLAME! (Meanwhile: Chickens ham it up – Laudie sharpens her weapons –...
The newly lit sanctuary candle has been moved into its lamp. I have to wait a day or so to do that as the flame is otherwise too ferocious. Meanwhile, the living flame of love which is always issuing...
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Lent and friendship with Jesus (or just fogettabahtit)
Lent is not about prayer and fasting and almsgiving done apart from the friendship of our Lord, you know, to see how much we can do or to let it be seen how much we can do. Without our Lord, such...
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Remember man, that you are dust and unto dust you shall return (Comments from...
Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris… Remember [man] that you are dust and unto dust you shall return… Sometimes a cross is traced on the forehead with ashes. Sometimes ashes are...
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Lenten snowfall ad orientem (the rooster investigates)
The very quiet scene beyond the ad orientem altar early this Lenten morning. The fresh snow really has great acoustical effects, dampening smaller sounds, which sharpens louder sounds. Perhaps we can...
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Ad orientem moon?! Stomp on it! A bit of prose in honor of the Immaculate...
Monitum: I am the worst prose writer in the world, writing as fast as I can type. But here goes! If you look carefully at the picture above, you can see the crucifix above the tabernacle of the ad...
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More on Time: Is it linear? Cyclic? Evolutionary? A vortex? Relative? Or is...
Salvador Dali getting surreal. In the eleventh book of the Confessions of Saint Augustine — whose heart was ever restless until it rested in God — we read his effort to provide the most...
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Ad orientem on 25 March at Holy Souls Hermitage
The ad orientem scene at Holy Souls Hermitage on 25 March 2013. Those who haven’t read this bit about the Immaculate Conception in Genesis 3,15 in context with 2,4–3,24 won’t regret spending part of...
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And that hole in the ground….
And that hole in the ground is where they’re going to plant the cross for you to be crucified. It will be great to have you with me. Filed under: Spiritual Life Tagged: spirituality
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Father Byers, the terrorist: “I could do it. In fact, I already have.”
Given the circumstances in life that Dzhokhar [pronounced "Joker"?] had, and prescinding from belief in the goodness and kindness of the Son of the Living God, could I do something like this? Could I...
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Holy Souls Mountain florae for the Immaculate Conception and a rant on God’s...
No matter how tiny the soul feels to be before the absolute immensity of God’s majestic grandeur, if it be pure, with the simplicity of even the itsie bitsiest of flowers in His Kingdom, well then,...
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Fisking the lyrics of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah with animatronic Sarah Palin...
From Steven Spielberg’s *Duel* — Shooting someone who outdrew you… I have the opinion that http://holysoulshermitage.com boasts of some of the most incisive readers/commenters on the internet. I have a...
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Holy Souls Mountain fire-bright flora for the Immaculate Conception: Common...
The ever so common, uncommonly beautiful dandy dandelion, the dent-de-lion So, you feel that you are just a run of the mill Catholic, nothing special, nothing extraordinary, with nothing at all to...
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Letter to Diognetus
Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way...
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Florae for the Immaculate Conception: E Z 3 and 34! Peace amidst chaos
The pictures of florae in the ongoing series “Florae for the Immaculate Conception” are from Holy Souls Mountain. Now, I must say that some readers have sent in messages of exasperation and depression...
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Father George David Byers: Getting smacked down by my Guardian Angel and...
I don’t know for how many years I had been begging my guardian angel to guide me in living a bit of reverence before our Heavenly Father with words like these: “Guardian angel, you who see the Face of...
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Tornadoes: Is God mocking us, playing Hide and Go Seek? Where is He?
We pray for the repose of the souls of the victims. We pray for the survivors. Years ago, Italian journalist Vittorio Messori interviewed Blessed John Paul II for what would eventually become Crossing...
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Laudie-dog goes on hunger strike: An analogy
Above: Laudie-dog begging me not to abandon her. Below: She knew that a storm was brewing, that I would abandon her. Below: Laudie-dog telling the storm what she thinks about it. Result: I left Holy...
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A pair of florae for the Immaculate Conception (and a family of salamanders)
Not sure what these are, growing up like spears a couple of feet high, one or two here, one or two there, in the mountain rain forests of the Southern slopes of the Blue Ridges of Western North...
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Just the bear facts — a tip for the spiritual life
Down the mountain, down in town, an itsy-bitsy tiny black bear was up a tree, with pretty much the whole town gathered beneath. Mama bear was no where in sight (lucky for them). And this little one...
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Florae for the Immaculate Conception: The deadly Arisaema triphyllum (Jack***...
Beware of any and every Jack in the Pulpit! Everything about it is deadly, fatal: roots, stems, leaves, the jack thing, the petal, the berries in the Fall. All of it, deadly. You’re dead. Considering...
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Florae for the Immaculate Conception: Rhododendron calendulaceum (flaming...
“Picking” these flowers of Holy Souls Mountain in honor of the Immaculate Conception is an honor itself. When I was a kid, and would collect wild flowers to give to my mom, she would put them in a...
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Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! (Out of the mouths of mere babes!)
Designed and written by a nine-year old boy who was suffering terribly, but who had the most amazing friendship with Jesus, and who could size-up the spiritual wherewithal of pretty much anyone within...
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