What obsolete skill are you?

You are 'regularly metric verse'. This can take
many forms, including heroic couplets, blank
verse, and other iambic pentameters, for
example. It has not been used much since the
nineteenth century; modern poets tend to prefer
rhyme without meter, or even poetry with
neither rhyme nor meter.

You appreciate the beautiful things in life--the
joy of music, the color of leaves falling, the
rhythm of a heartbeat. You see life itself as
a series of little poems. The result (or is it
the cause?) is that you are pensive and often
melancholy. You enjoy the company of other
people, but they find you unexcitable and
depressing. Your problem is that regularly
metric verse has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
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I guess it's a good thing I majored in English! Most of my poetry is not in metered verse, though. I am too impatient for that! But I have long ago reached the conclusion that pensiveness and melencholy is either the result or the cause of too much poetry writing!

What obsolete skill are you?

You are 'regularly metric verse'. This can take
many forms, including heroic couplets, blank
verse, and other iambic pentameters, for
example. It has not been used much since the
nineteenth century; modern poets tend to prefer
rhyme without meter, or even poetry with
neither rhyme nor meter.

You appreciate the beautiful things in life--the
joy of music, the color of leaves falling, the
rhythm of a heartbeat. You see life itself as
a series of little poems. The result (or is it
the cause?) is that you are pensive and often
melancholy. You enjoy the company of other
people, but they find you unexcitable and
depressing. Your problem is that regularly
metric verse has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I guess it's a good thing I majored in English! Most of my poetry is not in metered verse, though. I am too impatient for that! But I have long ago reached the conclusion that pensiveness and melencholy is either the result or the cause of too much poetry writing!

Today: The Feast of the Guardian Angels

Early October is chock full of great feast days. Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. To me, this is one of the most comforting of the Church's teachings. We each are given a guardian angel by God to stay with us and protect us for life. We often think of this in terms of a child being given a guardian angel to protect him. But remember, we adults still have a guardian angel. God sees fit to assign us each our own guardian angel.

St. Padre Pio used to send his angel on errands of mercy to others when he could not be there in person. I have done this in my own prayers and find it a great comfort in times of worry. While there is a limit to what we as human beings can do, there is no limit on the things God can do.

I also like the image of our angel personally taking our prayers to God's throne.

We are never alone. We always have God's angel to be with us.

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God's love
commits thee here.
Ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.
~Amen~

Do you have a visual image of your guardian angel? I imagine mine with dark hair dressed in emerald green.

Today: The Feast of the Guardian Angels

Early October is chock full of great feast days. Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. To me, this is one of the most comforting of the Church's teachings. We each are given a guardian angel by God to stay with us and protect us for life. We often think of this in terms of a child being given a guardian angel to protect him. But remember, we adults still have a guardian angel. God sees fit to assign us each our own guardian angel.

St. Padre Pio used to send his angel on errands of mercy to others when he could not be there in person. I have done this in my own prayers and find it a great comfort in times of worry. While there is a limit to what we as human beings can do, there is no limit on the things God can do.

I also like the image of our angel personally taking our prayers to God's throne.

We are never alone. We always have God's angel to be with us.

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God's love
commits thee here.
Ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.
~Amen~

Do you have a visual image of your guardian angel? I imagine mine with dark hair dressed in emerald green.

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Today is the feast of one of my all-time favorite saints, Saint Therese of Lieseux. Born Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin, she grew up in Alencon, France. Her mother described Therese's early temperment this way:

"She (Therese) flies into frightful tantrums; when things don't go just right and according to her way of thinking, she rolls on the floor in desperation like one without any hope. There are times when it gets too much for her and she literally chokes. She's a nervous child, but she is very good, very intelligent and remembers everything."

Therese's mother died of breast cancer when Therese was only 4 and the family moved to Lisieux. Her eldest sister, Pauline, took over the role of mother for Therese. After Pauline's entrance into the convent, Therese fell seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed it as everything from a kidney infection to a nervous breakdown.

At one point, Therese looked over at a statue of the Virgin Mary and prayed for a cure. The statue seemed to smile at her, and Therese was cured.

Her quest to enter a convent at the age of 15 took her all the way to Rome to the Pope. She entered the convent on April 9, 1888. She developed her famous "Little Way" to Christ. She felt she could not do the great things she wanted to do, so she offered up every tiny, daily work and frustration for the love of Jesus.

She said that when she died she would "Spend my Heaven doing good on earth" and that she would let fall a "shower of roses" after her death. Those who pray for her intercession often report an unexpected rose crossing their daily path as a sign of an answer to their prayer.

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Today is the feast of one of my all-time favorite saints, Saint Therese of Lieseux. Born Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin, she grew up in Alencon, France. Her mother described Therese's early temperment this way:

"She (Therese) flies into frightful tantrums; when things don't go just right and according to her way of thinking, she rolls on the floor in desperation like one without any hope. There are times when it gets too much for her and she literally chokes. She's a nervous child, but she is very good, very intelligent and remembers everything."

Therese's mother died of breast cancer when Therese was only 4 and the family moved to Lisieux. Her eldest sister, Pauline, took over the role of mother for Therese. After Pauline's entrance into the convent, Therese fell seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed it as everything from a kidney infection to a nervous breakdown.

At one point, Therese looked over at a statue of the Virgin Mary and prayed for a cure. The statue seemed to smile at her, and Therese was cured.

Her quest to enter a convent at the age of 15 took her all the way to Rome to the Pope. She entered the convent on April 9, 1888. She developed her famous "Little Way" to Christ. She felt she could not do the great things she wanted to do, so she offered up every tiny, daily work and frustration for the love of Jesus.

She said that when she died she would "Spend my Heaven doing good on earth" and that she would let fall a "shower of roses" after her death. Those who pray for her intercession often report an unexpected rose crossing their daily path as a sign of an answer to their prayer.

Sts. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael

Today is the feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael. It is one of my favorite feast days because St. Michael is the patron saint of both my husband and my son. I happen to think Saint Michael is a wonderful patron saint for boys because he is a strong servant of God. Spirituality is so often seen by men as a "woman thing" and I think saints like St. Michael go a long way toward remedying that.

On the old calendar, today was known as "Michaelmas" and was the feast of St. Michael. St. Gabriel's feast was March 24 and St. Raphael on October 24. So, I tend to think of today as the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Michaelmas was a harvest feast day and still has special food associated with it in many European countries. In the Great Britian, goose was the traditional meal for Michaelmas, eaten for prosperity. France has waffles or Gaufres and the traditional fare in Scotland used to be St. Michael's Bannock (Struan Micheil) — a large, scone-like cake. In Italy, gnocchi is the traditional fare.

St. Michael is an important saint. His name appears in Scripture four times both in the Old and the New Testaments. He is a saint we share with Judasim. We can read about Michael twice in the Book of Daniel, and once each in the Epistle of St. Jude and the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation tells of a battle in Heaven between Michael and and Satan. He is the saint traditionally invoked against evil. He is the patron of Police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, soldiers and security forces. He is truly a saint for our times!

There is a traditional prayer said to Saint Michael which is worth knowing:

Saint Michael the Archangel
defend us in the day of battle.
Be our safeguard against the
wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And do thou, oh prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the power of God, cast into hell,
Satan, and all the evil spirits
that prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.