Slightly Changing Topic

"Consoling" is the word that comes to my mind to describe Pope Francis' extraordinary "Urbi et Orbi" blessing on March 27, 2020 at 6PM (Rome time). The Vicar of Christ praying in front of the Body of Christ for the whole world that is currently wracked by anxieties from the Covid-19 pandemic. That same Vicar of Christ blessing that same world with that same Body of Christ. Powerful, consoling images that need no commentary. Before the blessing, there was a reading of the Gospel passage about Jesus calming the storm. The Gospel reading was followed by a homily which deserves to be read in full, in its direct translation. An English translation may be read here.

(Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Asterix%26Obelix_Brussels.jpg) Two days ago, Albert Underzo, the last remaining member of the pair that created the Asterix  comics, passed away at the age of 92 due to a heart attack that reportedly did not have anything to do with COVID-19.9 I first encountered Asterix  at the age of 10. Back then, I was struggling to fit in, and I was struggling with my grades in Home Economics which were what kept me from having honor awards in school. I resorted to daydreaming as a temporary escape from my problems. I had problems fitting in even during family reunions, because I was too old to play with my younger cousins yet too young to converse with my uncles and aunts. So I spent family reunions searching the host's house for books I could read (with permission, of course) until it was time to go home. On one such reunion, I strayed into my cousin's room. My attention was caught by his copy of Asterix ...

...and I love them! (And yes, that picture is a picture of something I crocheted.) I love how they got Star Wars nostalgia right. I love the intense action. I love the compelling plots of each episode...the characterization...how the tough, battle-hardened Mandalorian bonded with the adorable "baby Yoda")...the webs of intrigue in the underworld of the double-crossing bounty-hunters. I love how there were more than one strong female characters, none of whom were annoying. I loved how the series did not take itself too seriously. I look forward to Season 2, which looks promising with Ahsoka Tano in it. The series made this time of quarantine more bearable.

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of giving little rays of sunshine to my readers and to myself during these dark days. A group of friends are organizing a gratitude letter drive to give rays of sunshine to our frontliners, who need and deserve them. They are collecting gratitude letters which they will transcribe as PUBMAT files which will be posted online and shared until they reach the right group of people. You may write letters to health professionals, uniformed personnel monitoring the borders, janitors, security guards, supermarket sales persons...You may also write to the afflicted. One group of frontliners that hardly gets mentioned but who are also important are the priests. They administer the sacraments and are swamped with requests for prayers and spiritual consolation these days. But it is not always easy to give those. We always ask them for prayers snd advice without realizing they need them too. Perhaps some of us could send them gratitude le...

While researching for my latest post on my other blog , I came across the following interesting facts: By sheer coincidence, the rhythm of the main musical phrase in Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" is the same as that of the Morse code signal for the letter "V":  ...-   ( dit-dit-dit-dah) Because of this, many years after the "Fifth Symphony" was composed, the Allies during World War II used it as a symbol of victory. The British Broadcasting Corporation prefaced its wartime broadcasts with the beginning of the "Fifth Symphony". Ladies and gentlemen, Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony". Victory will come! ...-

I've made another blog called Keeping the Kiddos Busy . It features daily boredom busters for children for this time of quarantine. Do check it out.