These flowers are remnants of a beautiful Thanksgiving gathering.  All told there were 20 of us gathered; aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, and significant others.  Tomorrow I go back to the grindstone, but not without inspiration.  One family relative by marriage is a librarian and she recently posted an article about her attempt to read 1001 books; which kick-started my own desire to start reading again in earnest.

Here is her writing: http://marissajeanine.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-brilliant-book-reviewing-career.html

While I am far behind her 50 -70 books/year average, on the Metro North train ride back to New York City I decided to read the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ voting guide called, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”

Here is the online version of the pamphlet: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship-document.cfm

Conscience is defined as “the voice of God resounding in the human heart.”

Since Election Day I have been spending a fair bit of time listening to commentators on the left and the right as they try to explain the implications of Obama’s re-election.  As a Roman Catholic I have a particular interest in hearing what leaders within my Church forecast.  Here is one gloomy assessment: http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/catholics-must-face-squarely-the-dire-threat-to-religious-liberty.

Yesterday, I attended the Saturday vigil mass at Saint John of the Cross in Middlebury, CT and Deacon Steven preached the homily for the Feast of Christ the King noting how it is the pervasive attitude in our culture of death that it is “better to be a king in hell than a servant in heaven.”  This is a quote from Dante’s Inferno.  It just so happens that I am currently in the midst of reading the Inferno as part of a lecture series being hosted by the pastor of Saint Michael’s Russian Catholic Church.

My Uncle Michael is also a deacon at Saint John of the Cross, and I am looking forward to going with him on one of our pilgrimages to the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA: http://thedivinemercy.org/shrine/

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that if we trust in Him then all of our sins will be drowned in the “ocean of His Mercy.”  I can’t foretell the fate of my nation, but I can play a part in confessing my own sins and trusting more in God.  I hope others, both on the left and the right will do likewise.

Long Live, Christ the King!