The Feast of Saint Agnes

"The Feast of Saint Agnes is marked every year in Rome with a custom rich in symbolism and tradition. Two very young lambs from the sheepfold belonging to the Trappist Fathers of Tre Fontaine near Saint Paul's Basilica are crowned and placed in baskets decorated with red and white flowers and ribbons signifying Saint Agnes' purity and martyrdom. The lambs are ceremoniously incensed and blessed after having been carried in procession to the altar near the end of Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Saint Agnes Outside the Walls. The lambs are then shown to the Pope at the Vatican and afterwards entrusted to the care of the Benedictine nuns of Santa Cecilia in Trastavere who rear them until Holy Thursday when they are then sheared. The wool from these lambs is used to weave the pallia, articles of ecclesiastical apparel worn by the Pope as well as by metropolitan archbishops and patriarchs..."

The Latin word for lamb is "agnus". Saint Agnes, martyr of purity, pray for us!

Youth

"Youth does not only consist of a stage limited by time, but is rather a moral attitude that is characterized by a deep confidence in the achievement of good and truth."

--Blessed Anacleto Gonzalez Flores

Tolerance

"In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die."

--Dorothy Sayers

Safe

"The safest place for me to be is in the center of God's will, and if that is in the line of fire, that's where I'll be."

--U.S. Army Chaplain Fr. Tim Vakoc

" You are too hasty, Sir..."

"You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so.... I do assure you, Sir, that I have no pretension to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart."

--Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice

Back again

Is there more than one of you?
Of course there's not; it isn't true.
But the name is yours, and his words
remind me of the warbling birds.
So much like you in many ways--
reminding me of early days
when you would write so many things
about yourself to me;
How long ago it seems,
but now you're back again.
Not really,
though for all the world
you remind me of him.
No, that isn't true.
He reminds me of you.

I sing to use the waiting

I sing to use the waiting,
My bonnet but to tie,
And shut the door unto my house:
No more to do have I,

Till, his best step approaching,
We journey to the day,
And tell each other how we sang
To keep the dark away.

--Emily Dickinson