Sixth Monday After Pentecost: On Bastille Day - What Prisons Are You/We in?
Featuring RUSSIA (ancestral land of my maternal Grandfather) + Two very good dogs! + Being an actor & not a reactor + Wind Cave (SD) NP + Patron of Fixed Hour Prayer - Romuald
The longest liturgical season, which will take us up to Advent, is referred to as Pentecost by some denominations, while Roman Catholics call it Ordinary Time.
To honor the spirit of both of these themes, the second section of my weekday posts will feature a country and the numbers 1-10 in its language.
During this season, I want to share more of my original writing.
ONE > A recent or special archived photo (or a few) I’ve captured.
It was a full weekend with multiple photo-ops. Friday evening my wife and I went to hear a favorite 1980’s cover band at an Italian Festival in Canton, Ohio. I snaped this gorgeous image:
On Sunday, I got up for the 8 am liturgy which my church celebrates in what is accurately called the Pray, Think, Love House.
Then my wife and I went to the AWESOME annual, two-day Book Festival at our award-winning Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Behind the library building, in a lovely, shady park, were perhaps a hundred vendor tents - all with books and more books!
One of my favorite vendors used an old-school item to store bookmarks and more:
After a full last work week and an enjoyable, activity-rich weekend, I’m tired, yet grateful for the life I am having these days!
TWO > Using “Armchair Explorer: Discover the Best Music, Film. Literature From Around the World” I feature a country with a playlist and video highlighting its music. Plus, numbers in this country’s primary language.
Finishing off the countries from which my grandparents came as immigrants, we come to Russia. My material grandfather was born in Russia, specifically the region which today is Belarus. I’ll feature this former Soviet state in my next post.
Vysotsky’s subtly subversive songwriting delivered in a distinctive rasping voice was quietly disapproved of by the Soviet authorities in the 1960’s and 70’s, though tolerated on account of his immense popularity. (page 77)
To coincide with glasnost and perestroika, the 1980’s saw a boom in Soviet rock bands, of which Kino stood at the vanguard. Frontman Viktor Tsoi died in a car crash in Latvia in 1990 - the outpouring of grief among young fans has been likened to that for Kurt Cobain in the USA. (page 77)
THREE > Good News!
It’s a twofer today!
FOUR > Planetary Pilgrims visit U.S. National Parks (least to most attended)
Wind Cave NP (SD) - 40th out of 63 in attendance. Wind Cave Visitor’s Guide
SIX > From Sacred Story Affirmations: Meditations on Discernment of Spirits by William M. Watson, S.J.
XXIII: I WILL STRIVE TO CURB TEMPTATIONS TO REACT TO PEOPLE AND EVENTS
In the forward to Sacred Story: An Ignatian Examen for the Third Millennium, Jesuit priest George Aschenbrenner wrote:
“The most dangerous issue confronting our culture is to learn to deal with violent sudden and explosive impulses. Though we can unhealthily try to squelch these strong feelings, such violent explosives simmer in all our hearts and flail out often beyond our control. Without realizing such explosive power resides within us or without an ability to control such eruptions, we all face disaster…
The Ignatian examen can provide a faithful human education for simmering emotions, unreflective thoughts and explosive impulses. This is the deep-seated heart of Ignatian examen. Never automatic, it requires gutsy work and tough decisions if we are to avoid the deadly disaster that faces us all.”
Lord Jesus Christ, help us to curb our temptations to react to persons and events. Give us the grace to control our tongues and to guard our hearts so we can grow in faith, hope and love to live more fully your Creation. Presence. Memory. Mercy. Eternity.
SEVEN > Musings from A Book of Wonders: Daily Reflections for Awakened Living. and/or A Pilgrim’s Almanac: Reflection for Each Day of the Year by Father Edward Hays (of “Planetary Pilgrim” fame)
Bastille Day
On this date in 1798 the French Revolution began as a Paris mob attacked the famous Bastille prison. While we may have a mental image of torturous conditions at the Bastille, according to one inmate a typical menu at that time read like this: green pea soup garnished with lettuce and a joint of fowl, sliced roast beef, meat pie garnished with mushrooms and truffles, sheep’s tongue, biscuit, fruit and Burgundy wine.
Take time today to reflect on whether you are living in a comfortable prison [as] … we can become prisoners of fear by our own hands. We bring about the situations we dread in our lives because we fall prey to the power of our thoughts. They are like a magnetic blueprint, possessing the power to attract the things we imagine. There are countless building blocks that our minds use to construct our personal prisons: anger, resentment, hate, discrimination, feelings of inferiority, shame, guilt, impatience, regret of past mistakes, anticipation of calamities, our fear of our comfortable lives being changed or challenged and a host of other fears. And our spirits can be suffocated by the fortresses of fear that we build around ourselves. (pages 115-116)
EIGHT > Prayers and inspiration from Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints & Mystics (2024) by Kreg Yingst [Note: I HIGHLY recommend that you purchase this amazing book so that you can experience the art accompanying each person]
Today’s patron of FIXED HOUR PRAYER is Romuald (951-1027)
Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish.
O Indwelling Presence, I don’t always understand the power of prayer, words floating into thin air. But you prayed often and encouraged us to do the same. Bring me into the company of community of the saints in offering you praise.
As Planetary Pilgrims, we are invited to be aware of where our earth is in its annual trek around the sun as well as where our moon - Luna - is in its 28 day cycle around Earth.
So, as of this writing (11:45 on Sunday):
The Autumnal Equinox arrives (9/22/25, 2:19 pm) in 70 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes
Luna is in the waxing (increasing) first quarter or 88% of full. It's 18 days and 17 hours old (the time since the last new moon) Click HERE to see what the moon looks like at this phase.
—-----------
RIGHT NOW, we Planetary Pilgrims are MOVING:
1,000 mph - as the earth rotates
66,000 mph - as the earth orbits the sun (in one year we travel 595,000,000 miles around the sun)
43,000 mph - as the Sun, Earth, the seven other planets (and their satellites/moons) move together through space
—--------------
This movement through space passes us through time:
1 year, 112 days until the Midterm election (11/3/26)
3 years, 116 days until the next Presidential election (11/7/28)
3 years, 190 days until tRump finally is done and I turn (by God’s grace) 59 yrs old (1/20/29)
Please note that I publish a Stack/blog on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you’ve not already done so, please subscribe to this newsletter. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, paid subscribers receive a special newsletter: “A Planetary Pilgrim’s Tunes for Walking”