Donate to St. Jude’s Hospital (just specify that the donation cannot be used for research involving embryonic stem cells or fetal tissue). Founded by Maronite Catholic Danny Thomas, St. Jude developed the artificial valve that keeps me and thousands of other people alive.
→ 3 CommentsCategories: Have a Heart · Lewis Crusade · Marfan syndrome · medical ethics · research
From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY EIGHT
O Immaculate Mother of God, from heaven itself you came to appear to the little Bernadette in the rough Grotto of Lourdes! And as Bernadette knelt at your feet and the miraculous spring burst forth and as multitudes have knelt ever since before your shrine, O Mother of God, we kneel before you today to ask that in your mercy you plead with your Divine Son to grant the special favor we seek in this novena.
Please pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Blessed Virgin Mary · prayer
Yet another abortionist has been shut down for malpractice.
If Tiller hadn’t invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into Kathleen Sebelius and other Kansan politicians through illegal PACs, he’d have already been shut down. I know that was what triggered Scott Roeder’s breakdown (Tiller got an attorney general elected whom he’d bought and paid for in place of Phil Kline, who then refused to look at any of the evidence against Tiller and softballed all the questions at the trial).
However, there were plenty of legal actions against Tiller, and there was plenty of time until one of them–even if it was just his illegal campaign contributions themselves–brought the corrupt monster down.
Roeder’s act of vigilantism rendered any such resolution impossible, even as abortionists around the country are routinely shut down for the criminal practices and/or bad medicine they engage in as part of their trade.
→ 5 CommentsCategories: abortion · activism
Besides being unabashedly liberal, Yahoo News is always interesting for indicators of “slow news days.” Usually, the headlines on such days will be “relationship” articles, and usually relationship articles that boil down to saying, a) guys are jerks, b) you can’t trust your significant other or c) reasons to break up (very positive, that).
It got really bad this weekend, when for a few days one of the top headlines on yahoo was a Yahoo Answers article, “What are those little things on the ‘f’ and ‘j’ keys for?” Are you kidding me? Has our society gotten that stupid????
So, today’s “We can’t find anything better to post” headline on Yahoo is:
“Scandal Claims Illinois Politician.”
Oh, and the sun came up this morning. News at 11.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Headlines · humor
Vincent Schiavelli was not only one of our most noted “celebrity Marfans,” but in the Marfan community he’s known for his generosity in reaching out to other Marfans, particularly children, and giving them his time and attention.
May he rest in peace.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Have a Heart · Marfan syndrome · Media · pop culture · worth of the disabled
From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY SEVEN
O Almighty God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary did prepare a worthy dwelling place for your Son, we humbly beseech you that as we contemplate the apparition of Our Lady in the Grotto of Lourdes, we may be blessed with health of mind and body. O most gracious Mother Mary, beloved Mother of Our Lord and Redeemer, look with favor upon us as you did that day on Bernadette and intercede with him for us that the favor we now so earnestly seek may be granted to us.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: prayer
Thanks to all who are participating in my blogged Novenas.
My first Novena, the combo Infant of Prague/St. Jude Novena, didn’t get me a FT job (yet), but it got my dad his dream job.
Now, my St. Blaise Novena, focusing on physicians in our lives, my carotid artery, and Allie’s vision was answered in part, before it was even over, by a fantastic report from Allie’s ophthalmologist.
Was her right eye miraculously healed? No. However, he told my parents (who took her to the appt) about a new artificial lens that’s been developed in Europe that is safer for Marfan children than the other lenses out there. He’s going to a conference in April to learn more about it and be trained in it. It’s been approved by the FDA for exceptional cases (Allie fits the bill), so he’s going to apply for approval for her to get the lens implants, probably next fall.
If that goes through successfully, she’ll be able to see better than I can!
→ 1 CommentCategories: Blessed Virgin Mary · Catholicism · Have a Heart · Marfan syndrome · Saints · apologetics · atheism · health care · prayer
Brent Collins was an actor who had the strange genetic admixture of Marfan syndrome and dwarfism. A sudden growth spurt in mid adulthood led to his death in 1988. He starred on As The World Turns (1982-1983) and Another World (1984-1987), and was very prominent on the latter series. He had a few guest starring roles.
On _Another World_:
May he rest in peace.
→ 3 CommentsCategories: Disability · Have a Heart · Marfan syndrome · Media · activism · medical ethics · pop culture · worth of the disabled
From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY SIX
O glorious Mother of God, so powerful under your special title of Our Lady of Lourdes, to you we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the gracious Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare and for the special favor we so earnestly seek in this novena.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Lady of Bernadette, with the stars of heaven in your hair and the roses of earth at your feet, look with compassion upon us today as you did so long ago on Bernadette in the Grotto of Lourdes.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ 1 CommentCategories: prayer
“Keep this in mind, for it is very important advice, so do not neglect it
until you find you have such a fixed determination not to offend the Lord that
you would rather lose a thousand lives and be persecuted by the whole world,
than commit one mortal sin, and until you are most careful not to commit venial
sins. I am referring now to sins committed knowingly: as far as those of the
other kind are concerned, who can fail to commit them frequently? But it is one
thing to commit a sin knowingly and after long deliberation, and quite another
to do it so suddenly that the knowledge of its being a venial sin and its
commission are one and the same thing, and we hardly realize what we have done,
although we do to some extent realize it. From any sin, however small, committed
with full knowledge, may God deliver us, especially since we are sinning against
so great a Sovereign and realizing that He is watching us! That seems to me to
be a sin committed of malice aforethought; it is as though one were to say:
“Lord, although this displeases Thee, I shall do it. I know that Thou seest it
and I know that Thou wouldst not have me do it; but, though I understand this, I
would rather follow my own whim and desire than Thy will.” If we commit a sin in
this way, however slight, it seems to me that our offence is not small but very,
very great.” (Way of
Perfection Ch. 40, para. 3).
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Carmelite · Evangelical Counsels · Saints · Spiritual warfare · asceticism · heroic virtue
Your Mother hasn’t heard from you in Decades!
EWTN Rosary for Life (Joyful Mysteries)
EWTN Rosary with Mother Angelica (Luminous Mysteries)
EWTN Scriptural Rosary (Sorrowful Mysteries)
EWTN International Rosary (Glorious Mysteries)
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From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY FIVE
O Mary Immaculate, Mother of God and our mother, from the heights of your dignity look down mercifully upon us while we, full of confidence in your unbounded goodness and confident that your Divine Son will look favorably upon any request you make of Him in our behalf, we beseech you to come to our aid and secure for us the favor we seek in this novena.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: prayer
The following essay is another that’s gotten some mileage. I wrote it for English 101, published it in the _Sandhill_, USC Sumter’s literary magazine, and later published it in the book _The Marfan Writers’ Anthology_.
“What’s the whistle for?” my friend asked.
“That’s there so I can blow it if I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t breathe,” I replied.
“But, John,” he said, already laughing, “If you can’t breathe, how are you going to blow the whistle?”
The anecdote will probably go into that list of stories which families and friends always remember, enjoying the humor for years to come. In this case, the story demonstrates how humor is vital in dealing with a terminal illness; how I have learned to counter the all-too serious nature of the situation by making the best of it. Although we laugh at the brief explanation of why I keep a whistle by my bed, the true reason is much more frightening.
It would be one thing to say that I suffer insomnia, or that I sleep too much on a standard basis. However, my sleep patterns are unhealthy in their erratic nature. One night, I may find myself unable to wake, while another night may find me desperate merely to close my eyes. On the night in question, sleep wasn’t much of a problem. I wasn’t feeling any more pain than usual, and I was sleeping pretty soundly through most of the night. When I suddenly woke up, I didn’t quite realize what was going on. I had a pain in my back, and I was sweating so much that my clothes were wet.
After lying in bed for awhile, just trying to get comfortable and to go back to sleep, I finally decided to reach over to my night stand and pick up my glasses. Straining to see the clock in the darkness, I determined that the time was about 4:00. I continued to lie in bed for a little longer. However, I finally decided that the discomfort was too much, and I might as well get up and go lie on the couch (which usually allows me to get back to sleep when I have such nights). When I pushed the blankets aside and got up, I was terribly cold and could barely move. I felt as if I were frozen, and my limbs froze with cold. Giving up, I got back into bed as fast as I could, pulling the covers up over my shoulders and wrapping myself up as tightly as possible.
After a few more minutes, when I’d felt warm enough to move again, I reached over and began to tap on the wall, hoping that Mom or Dad would hear and come to see what was going on. Tapping didn’t work, so I kept pounding a little harder, every now and then gasping out a cry that came out like a whisper: “Mom or Dad?” No answer. Again, I hit a little harder and cried a little louder. No answer. After at least fifteen minutes of this desperate pounding and calling, I decided that there was only one way I could wake them up to free me from my isolation. All my pain and fear came bursting out in a final, desperate scream.
Needless to say, before I knew it, Mom and Dad were there, and I was safe. After a while, the pain gradually subsided, and we were able to sleep soundly once again.
We never determined what had caused the pain that night, but the importance of the incident lay in the abject terror of being alone, isolated in the unfeeling darkness, feeling such unbelievable pain, and thinking that Hell can’t be much worse than this. A beautiful feeling of relief comes with freedom from terror’s grasp. The hope for such release is the only thing that keeps me going. The whistle embodies that hope. At least I have some way of keeping contact with the outside world. At least I have some way of knowing that, should I ever find myself in that situation again, I merely have to blow the whistle and the darkness will be broken by the light of parental love.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Early Writings · Have a Heart · Marfan syndrome
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From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY FOUR
O Immaculate Queen of Heaven, we your wayward, erring children, join our unworthy prayers of praise and thanksgiving to those of the angels and saints and your own-the One, Holy, and Undivided Trinity may be glorified in heaven and on earth. Our Lady of Lourdes, as you looked down with love and mercy upon Bernadette as she prayed her rosary in the grotto, look down now, we beseech you, with love and mercy upon us. From the abundance of graces granted you by your Divine Son, sweet Mother of God, give to each of us all that your motherly heart sees we need and at this moment look with special favor on the grace we seek in this novena.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ 1 CommentCategories: prayer
Praying for the intercession of St. Blaise for Allie, and my neck, and all physicians, particularly Allie’s pediatrician Dr. Albert and ophthalmologist Dr. Wilson and my brother Joe:
Novena to St. Blaise
Almighty and Eternal God! With lively faith and reverently worshiping Thy Divine Majesty, I prostrate myself before Thee and invoke with filial trust Thy supreme bounty and mercy. Illumine the darkness of my intellect with a ray of Thy heavenly light and inflame my heart with the fire of Thy divine love, that I may contemplate the great virtues and merits of the saint in whose honor I make this novena, and following his example imitate, like him, the life of Thy divine Son.
Moreover, I beseech Thee to grant graciously, through the merits and intercession of this powerful Helper, the petition which through him I humbly place before Thee, devoutly saving, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Vouchsafe graciously to hear it, if it redounds to Thy greater glory and to the salvation of my soul. Amen.
Prayer in honor of St. Blaise
O GOD, deliver us through the intercession of Thy holy bishop and martyr Blase, from all evil of soul and body, especially from all ills of the throat; and grant us the grace to make a good confession in the confident hope of obtaining Thy pardon, and ever to praise with worthy lips Thy most holy name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Invocation of St. Blaise
St. BLASE, gracious benefactor of mankind and faithful servant of God, who for the love of our Savior did suffer so many tortures with patience and resignation; I invoke thy powerful intercession. Preserve me from all evils of soul and body. Because of thy great merits God endowed thee with the special grace to help those that suffer from ills of the throat; relieve and preserve me from them, so that I may always be able to fulfill my duties, and with the aid of God’s grace perform good works. I invoke thy help as special physician of souls, that I may confess my sins sincerely in the holy sacrament of Penance and obtain their forgiveness. I recommend to thy merciful intercession also those who unfortunately concealed a sin in confession. Obtain for them the grace to accuse themselves sincerely and contritely of the sin they concealed, of the sacrilegious confessions and communions they made, and of all the sins they committed since then, so that they may receive pardon, the grace of God, and the remission of the eternal punishment. Amen.
Prayer
My LORD and my God! I offer up to Thee my petition in union with the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, together with the merits of His immaculate and blessed Mother, Mary ever virgin, and of all the saints, particularly with those of the holy Helper in whose honor I make this novena.
Look down upon me, merciful Lord! Grant me Thy grace and Thy love, and graciously hear my prayer. Amen.
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→ Leave a CommentCategories: Culture · Disability · Have a Heart · Marfan syndrome · human dignity · worth of the disabled
From EWTN:
Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings. Deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors, and, already, many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical. We come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence, to implore your maternal intercession. Obtain for us, O loving Mother, the granting of our request: God’s graces upon all those who will be reviewing my job application.
Through gratitude for your favors, we will endeavor to imitate your virtues, that we may one day share your glory.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your divine son while upon earth. You have the same influence now in Heaven. Pray for us; obtain for us from your Divine Son our special requests if it be the Divine Will. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, Pray for us.
DAY THREE
“You are all fair, O Mary, and there is in you no stain of original sin.” O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. O brilliant star of sanctity, as on that lovely day, upon a rough rock in Lourdes you spoke to the child Bernadette and a fountain broke from the plain earth and miracles happened and the great shrine of Lourdes began, so now I beseech you to hear our fervent prayer and do, we beseech you, grant us the petition we now so earnestly seek.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide those who are reviewing my job applications.
O Brilliant star of purity, Mary Immaculate, Our Lady of Lourdes, glorious in your assumption, triumphant in your coronation, show unto us the mercy of the Mother of God, Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother, be our comfort, hope, strength, and consolation. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
→ 1 CommentCategories: prayer
