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Forever in our hearts and in the hearts of our children.
A Tribute in honor of Father Angel
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Someone I know, a colleague and a friend, A Priest and a Teacher, on 24/7, A born Teacher, a dutiful Teacher, A born Priest, a pure Priest, Lovely to kids, loved by poor children, Simple with colleagues, always the play way, Here he comes, Kwa kwa! he goes, Kwa kwa! they respond, the old and the young, with wells of smiles and jokes.
Let’s go meet him, here he comes, The kids would scream, and leap and say, I want to touch your head, I want to climb on your back, Carry me Father, let me see your fingers. Let me touch your ears, … the kids always on demand. Yes! Yes! Aha! Aha! is always the response.
How they loved you Father, how we loved you too! Where are you? Let’s go get him now! On his way to Mbelem, oh no! On his way to Mboung, oh no! On his way to Mbelewa, oh sorry! On his way to Nebung, oh sorry! On his way to Manda, let’s see! On his way to Menteh, maybe! On his way to Nkwen Palace, oh no! No one saw him this day.
Where could he be? I know! I know! There he goes, the weary pilgrim, now marching in with the Angels and the Saints. With shouts of joy and dancing, as the angels sound the trumpets, he matches on and on, and on, towards the throne of grace.
BYE BYE FATHER ANGEL, we all say at last, with all the hope in mind, that one day we shall gather again in the city of God. To separate no more. Pray for us and we for you. Amen
A TRIBUTE in honor of FATHER ANGEL VALENZUELA, a colleague and friend by Taminang Theresia N.
Forever in our hearts and in the hearts of our children. RIP Father Angel
You served God as a very good Piarist Priest in our Village Nkwen, in Cameroon – Africa for a long time. Thank you, Fr, Angel. May Saint Joseph Calasanz receive you warmly into heaven.
St. Joseph CalasanzJoseph Calasanz, Patron Saint of Christian Schools
Forever in our hearts and in the hearts of our children.
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Someone I know, a colleague and a friend, A Priest and a Teacher, on 24/7, A born Teacher, a dutiful Teacher, A born Priest, a pure Priest, Lovely to kids, loved by poor children, Simple with colleagues, always the play way, Here he comes, Kwa kwa! he goes, Kwa kwa! they respond, the old and the young, with wells of smiles and jokes.
Let’s go meet him, here he comes, The kids would scream, and leap and say, I want to touch your head, I want to climb on your back, Carry me Father, let me see your fingers. Let me touch your ears, … the kids always on demand. Yes! Yes! Aha! Aha! is always the response.
How they loved you Father, how we loved you too! Where are you? Let’s go get him now! On his way to Mbelem, oh no! On his way to Mboung, oh no! On his way to Mbelewa, oh sorry! On his way to Nebung, oh sorry! On his way to Manda, let’s see! On his way to Menteh, maybe! On his way to Nkwen Palace, oh no! No one saw him this day.
Where could he be? I know! I know! There he goes, the weary pilgrim, now marching in with the Angels and the Saints. With shouts of joy and dancing, as the angels sound the trumpets, he matches on and on, and on, towards the throne of grace.
BYE BYE FATHER ANGEL, we all say at last, with all the hope in mind, that one day we shall gather again in the city of God. To separate no more. Pray for us and we for you.
A TRIBUTE TO FATHER ANGEL, a colleague and friend by Taminang Theresia N.
Forever in our hearts and in the hearts of our children. RIP Father Angel
You served God as a very good Piarist Priest in our Village Nkwen, in Cameroon – Africa for a long time. Thank you, Fr, Angel. May Saint Joseph Calasanz receive you warmly in heaven.
St. Joseph CalasanzJoseph Calasanz, Patron Saint of Christian Schools
Born on the 2nd of January 1873 at Alencon in France, she was baptized two days after, on the 4th of January the same year. When she was growing up, she thought she would be a nun. She received her First Holy Communion on the 8th of May 1884 and was confirmed on the 14th of June the same year. On the 9th of April 1888, she entered the Carmelite Monastery at Lisieux as a Postulant, with the permission of her Father. She practiced the virtues of humility, evangelical simplicity, and firm confidence in God. She is my Patron Saint, Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as Saint Therese of Lisieux and The Holy Face.
Saint Therese of Lisieux
HER INTERIOR SCHOOL
Therese of Lisieux is well known throughout the Church’s history as a doctor of souls. I once visited her school of holiness when I read her autobiography and decided to be a student in her school. This gentle soul in her interior school of holiness is awesome and can be very instrumental in the life of any Christian who turns to her intercession. I love reading her story again and again. Her prayer life as a whole, her schedule, and simple constant communion with God must have been the classroom where all teaching, learning, and research work took place for her to come out with her mission. Of course, her teacher was the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Mother her model.
HER MISSION
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Saint Therese of Lisieux
I’m always touched when I think of the kind of deep love Saint Therese had for God so much that in her last moment here on earth she declared her mission saying,
“I feel that I am about to enter my rest … but I also feel that my mission is going to begin. My mission is to make God loved as I love him, to give my little ways to souls. If God grants my desire, my heaven will be lived on earth, until the end of time. This is not impossible since, from the very heart of the beatific vision, the angels watch over us”.
My mission is love P.9.
She developed a lot of confidence in God as I see in most of her writings, like this very heartfelt one,
“O my God, Blessed Trinity I declare to love you and make you loved.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
I can see that she had a passionate desire to make God loved as she loves him or as they loved each other, a precious skill she must have acquired only in her interior school. Her self-discipline and openness in little things fostered a more significant encounter between God and herself that she intended to serve God even hereafter. I also learned that Therese’s mission actually started after her death, her mission to spend heaven on earth, if God grants her desires, to make God loved. She is one of the most loved saints nowadays because she keeps on fulfilling her mission: Making God’s children love him through her intercession – making Love loved. This Aspect of hers truly amazes me.
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HER PRAYER LIFE
Saint Therese of Lisieux
I’ve always thought prayer is “talking and listening to God” until I discovered more about prayer when I reflected on what my patroness wrote as a definition for prayer from her experience of prayer.
“A glance directed towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trials and joys.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
In her last conversation with her spiritual mother, Therese recounted a moment she encountered God’s glory. She said,
“…well I was beginning the way of the cross and all of a sudden, I was seized with such a violent love for God that I cannot explain it except by saying that it was as if I had been totally plunged into fire. Oh! What fire and what sweetness at one and the same time! I was burning with love and I felt that one moment, one-second longer, and I could not have supported its ardor without dying. I understood what the saint said about this state that they had experienced so often. I experienced it only for an instant, and then I fell back into my usual state of dryness.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
Therese’s attitude in prayer was that of abandonment. Even when it was difficult for her to meditate or reflect due to her health, her simplicity, peace of mind, and honesty in little things saw her being carried along by God’s love as a child carried in her Father’s arms. She longed to do great things, but her health could not permit her. In prayers, She was in-between being predominantly active and passive; thus, with no strength of her own, she left her heart predominantly open for the love of God to manifest itself to the fullest. How did she do this? By doing little things in extraordinary ways. We can learn from Therese that we can’t depend on our power to do things or to pray but on the grace of God’s love.
Therese of the Child Jesus
Another amazing thing in her was her way of praying. Therese never cherished vocal prayers or could not stand a wearisome reiteration of words, but she prefers to silence all her personal circuits to give deep attention to listening to God. She realized that it is when she was in silence that God speaks to her, a very important aspect of her interior school. She wanted to be real as much as possible not to be drawn into ready-made prayers, but however, she said she loved the Divine office.
I also learned that Therese usually recites the ‘Our Father‘ prayer very slowly during her moments of spiritual dryness as she said,
“Sometimes when my mind is in such dryness, that it is impossible for me to draw one thought to unite myself with God I recite very slowly an ‘our Father’ then the angelic situation, this prayer carries me away, they nourish my soul so much more than if I had recited them quickly one hundred times.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
This simply means she took her time to get all the meaning and sweetness of every word, phrase, and sentence of the prayer. And this exercise usually carries her out of dryness into a soul-nourishing experience. Amazing!
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HER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE VIRGIN MOTHER
Therese of the Child JesusTherese of the Child JesusHer relationship with the Virgin Mother was so real that she said,
“The Blessed Virgin shows me that she is not displeased with me and never fails to protect me as soon as I invoke her. I turn towards her and she always takes care of my needs as tenderness of a mother.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
This shows that in her interior school, Therese never despised the Virgin Mother she learned from her and obtained her benefits. She confirms she took care of her needs, which means her prayers through the Virgin Mother were always answered.
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HER EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE
Therese of the Child Jesus
“I could not bear the company of strangers and found my joy only within the intimacy of the Family.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
It is fantastic too that as Therese entered the convent, she clung to God in the same way she clung to her family. This childhood experience was just a glimpse of the interior school she came to establish as a nun, a preparation for what will come to pass in her life as a nun. Her unshakable or radical faith and dependence on God have gotten a significant contribution to her childhood experience.
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HER ILL HEALTH
Therese of the Child JesusTherese of the Child Jesus
In sickness, Therese knew she had no strength to support herself but believed God would support her soul without her support. She believed she leans on a rock that holds her life and that she holds not the rock, but the rock holds her. This attitude of hers actually astonishes me.
In her interior institution, while learning a lot from God, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Mother Mary, Saint Therese in some of her poems taught us many lessons such as abandonment, love, self-sacrifice, fortitude, tenderness, purity, etc. To understand and imitate her life is to make us men, women, brothers, and sisters of faith. Just as she taught her novices with her words and examples, so she is teaching us today. Here are two of her amazing poems:
A GLOSS ON THE DIVINE
“Without support, yet with support.
Living without light, in darkness,
I am wholly being consumed by love.
I have no other support than my God.
And now I proclaim what I value near him.
Is to see and feel my soul
Supported without any support.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
When I read this poem the first time, I was like startled, and then I asked myself, “what is the meaning of ‘gloss’?” From my dictionary and got it,
gloss
/ɡläs/
noun
1. shine or luster on a smooth surface.
I was so moved as this definition made me understand the poem better. Amazingly, I see how this gentle soul describes her smooth leaning on God, her self-abandonment in God’s hands, especially in moments when her heart was willing, but her body could not take her to where she wished to reach in her calling due to her ill health.
LIVING ON LOVE
“Living on love is giving without limit.
Without claiming any value here below.
Ah! I give without counting, truly sure.
That when one loves one does not keep counts!
Overflowing with tenderness, I have given everything.
To his divine heart… lightly I run.
I have nothing left but my only wealth
Living on love.
Living on love is banishing every fear.
Every memory of past faults.
I see no imprint of my sins.
In a moment love has burnt out everything.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
Wow! what a love song. If there is a word in the whole wide world so difficult to define, it is “LOVE,” but here is a very simple, very true definition of love from a pure heart. Amazing! “Giving without limit, without counting, overflowing with tenderness, banishing fear, etc.”
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CANONIZATION OF SAINT THERESE
Therese of the Child JesusTherese of the Child Jesus
“After her death on the 30th of September 1897, at the age of 24, Saint Therese was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XV in 1921. In 1923 Pope Pius XI promulgated a decree which beatified Therese, describing her as the “Star of his Pontifical reign.” Finally, on the 17th of May 1925, Therese Martin, also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was canonized at St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of thirty-four cardinals, more than two hundred Arch Bishops and Bishops, innumerable priests religious and others. The Basilica was decorated with garlands of roses. She has also proclaimed a doctor of the Church.”
In fact, I’m impressed at the number of people present at her canonization, which indicates how Therese had touched the lives of many with her simple ways. This inevitably came to pass as a result of her dedication to her interior school, where she listened, communicated and acted according to God’s will for her. She is said to be one of the most loved saints of this century because she keeps on fulfilling her mission. She is the woman most loved by the world after the mother of God. A doctor has done a lot of research, passed several exams, and is an expert in his work field. So was Saint Therese in her vocation. She did little things in extraordinary ways showing us that it is not only in doing great and mighty things that one deserves this title. Yes, she died but still lives and has visited so many countries of the world, something she wished she could do while on earth but was limited by health.
Therese of the Child Jesus
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Her Intercessory Power
Therese of the Child Jesus
I was so astonished when I read about her intercessory power and decided to seek her intercession one time I had difficulty. I prayed the “Glory Be Novena to Saint Therese.”
I was standing in front of the whole school that morning, conducting morning devotion. The latecomers had been stopped from running in except for the kindergartens who were allowed to join their mates on their line. Suddenly, up came one of the latecomers, my class kids, Tumi, running directly towards me with a flower in hand. He must have harvested it on his way to school, for he lives on a hillside two kilometers from the school compost. The other pupils watched with amazement, eager to see what Tumi will be up to. Innocently, he offered me the flower saying, “Madam, take your ‘fiawer’. ” The whole school burst into laughter. 😁😁😁 Tumi was so happy😀as I received the flower, carried him up, and embraced him. No one could understand what this was all about, but I who have read that Saint Therese usually indicates answered prayers with flower signs. This happens the first time I took the novena. I thought it was a coincidence, but my second experience made me actually believe it.
I was kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament on the 9th day of my Novena to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, and as I was meditating, my eyes caught the bouquet of flowers that was standing at the altar. Just of a sudden, a rose left the bouquet and fell on the floor. This again to me was a confirmation of answered prayers through Saint Therese, and this made me believe that what is said of her is true that when you seek her intercession, she mostly shows signs of answered prayers with flowers. No doubt, she is also popularly known as “The Little Flower of Jesus,” or only “The Little Flower.“
Truly my patroness amazes me, and I’m proud to be a student in her school. She is one of the greatest saints of modern times.
Born on the 2nd of January 1873 at Alencon in France, she was baptized two days after, on the 4th of January same year. When she was growing up, she thought she would be a nun. She received her First Holy Communion on the 8th of May 1884 and was confirmed on the 14th of June the same year. On the 9th of April 1888, she entered the Carmelite Monastery at Lisieux as a Postulant, at the permission of her Father. She practiced the virtues of humility, evangelical simplicity, and firm confidence in God. She is my Patron Saint, Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as Saint Therese of Lisieux and The Holy Face.
The Holy FaceSaint Therese of Lisieux.
HER INTERIOR SCHOOL
Therese of the Child Jesus is well known throughout the Church’s history as a doctor of souls. I once visited her school of holiness when I read her autobiography and decided to be a student in her school. This gentle soul in her interior school of holiness is awesome and can be very instrumental in the life of any Christian who turns to her intercession. I love reading her story again and again. Her prayer life as a whole, her schedule, and simple constant communion with God must have been the classroom where all teaching, learning, and research work took place for her to come out with her mission. Of course, her teacher being the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Mother her model.
HER MISSION
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Therese of the Child Jesus
I’m always touched when I think of the kind of deep love Saint Therese had for God so much that in her last moment here on earth she declared her mission saying,
“I feel that I am about to enter my rest … but I also feel that my mission is going to begin. My mission is to make God loved as I love him, to give my little ways to souls. If God grants my desire, my heaven will be lived on earth, until the end of time. This is not impossible since, from the very heart of the beatific vision, the angels watch over us”.
My mission is love P.9.
She developed a lot of confidence in God as I see in most of her writings, like this very heartfelt one,
“O my God, Blessed Trinity I declare to love you and make you loved.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
I can see that she had a passionate desire to make God loved as she loves him or as they loved each other, a precious skill she must have acquired only in her interior school. Her self-discipline and openness in little things fostered a more significant encounter between God and herself that she intended to serve God even hereafter. I also learned that Therese’s mission actually started after her death, her mission to spend heaven on earth, if God grants her desires, to make God loved. She is one of the most loved saints nowadays because she keeps on fulfilling her mission: Making God’s children love him through her intercession – making Love loved. This Aspect of hers truly amazes me.
Advertisements
HER PRAYER LIFE
I’ve always thought prayer is “talking and listening to God” until I discovered more about prayer when I reflected on what my patroness wrote as a definition for prayer from her experience of prayer.
“A glance directed towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trials and joys.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
In her last conversation with her spiritual mother, Therese recounted a moment she encountered God’s glory. She said,
“…well I was beginning the way of the cross and all of a sudden, I was seized with such a violent love for God that I cannot explain it except by saying that it was as if I had been totally plunged into fire. Oh! What fire and what sweetness at one and the same time! I was burning with love and I felt that one moment, one-second longer, and I could not have supported its ardor without dying. I understood what the saint said about this state that they had experienced so often. I experienced it only for an instant, and then I fell back into my usual state of dryness.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
Therese’s attitude in prayer was that of abandonment. Even when it was difficult for her to meditate or reflect due to her health, her simplicity, peace of mind, and honesty in little things saw her being carried along by God’s love as a child carried in her Father’s arms. She longed to do great things, but her health could not permit her. In prayers, She was in-between being predominantly active and passive; thus, with no strength of her own, she left her heart predominantly open for the love of God to manifest itself to the fullest. How did she do this? By doing little things in extraordinary ways. We can learn from Therese that we can’t depend on our power to do things or to pray but on the grace of God’s love.
Another amazing thing in her was her way of praying. Therese never cherished vocal prayers or could not stand a wearisome reiteration of words, but she prefers to silence all her personal circuits to give deep attention in listening to God. She realized that it is when she was in silence that God speaks to her, a very important aspect of her interior school. She wanted to be real as much as possible not to be drawn into ready-made prayers, but however, she said she loved the Divine office.
I also learned that Therese usually recites the ‘Our Father‘ prayer very slowly during her moments of spiritual dryness as she said,
“Sometimes when my mind is in such dryness, that it is impossible for me to draw one thought to unite myself with God I recite very slowly an ‘our Father’ then the angelic situation, this prayer carries me away, they nourish my soul so much more than if I had recited them quickly one hundred times.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
This simply means she took her time to get all the meaning and sweetness of every word, phrase, and sentence of the prayer. And this exercise usually carries her out of dryness into a soul-nourishing experience. Amazing!
Her relationship with the Virgin Mother was so real that she said,
“The Blessed Virgin shows me that she is not displeased with me and never fails to protect me as soon as I invoke her. I turn towards her and she always takes care of my needs as tenderness of a mother.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
This shows that in her interior school, Therese never despised the Virgin Mother she learned from her and obtained her benefits. She confirms she took care of her needs, which means her prayers through the Virgin Mother were always answered.
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HER EARLY CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE
Her radical faith and trust in God must have emanated from her early childhood experience of separation from her family. At the age of 3 years, due to ill health Therese was separated from her family and was only reunited after eleven months. This experience made her clung to her mother with a lot of passion. She could not endure being outside her mother’s presence. After her mother’s death, she clung to her family with the same zeal as she said,
“I could not bear the company of strangers and found my joy only within the intimacy of the Family.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
It is fantastic too that as Therese entered the convent, she clung to God in the same way she clung to her family. This childhood experience was just a glimpse of the interior school she came to establish as a nun, a preparation of what will come to pass in her life as a nun. Her unshakable or radical faith and dependence on God have gotten a significant contribution from her childhood experience.
Advertisements
HER ILL HEALTH
In sickness, Therese knew she had no strength to support herself but believed God would support her soul without her support. She believed she leans on a rock that holds her life and that she holds not the rock, but the rock holds her. This attitude of hers actually astonishes me.
In her interior institution, while learning a lot from God, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Mother Mary, Saint Therese in some of her poems taught us many lessons such as abandonment, love, self-sacrifice, fortitude, tenderness, purity, etc. To understand and imitate her life is to make us men, women, brothers, and sisters of faith. Just as she taught her novices with her words and examples, so she is teaching us today. Here are two of her amazing poems:
A GLOSS ON THE DIVINE
“Without support, yet with support.
Living without light, in darkness,
I am wholly being consumed by love.
I have no other support than my God.
And now I proclaim what I value near him.
Is to see and feel my soul
Supported without any support.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
When I read this poem the first time, I was like startled, and then I asked myself, “what is the meaning of ‘gloss’?” From my dictionary and got it,
gloss
/ɡläs/
noun
1.shine or luster on a smooth surface.
I was so moved as this definition made me understand the poem better. Amazingly, I see how this gentle soul describes her smooth leaning on God, her self abandonment in God’s hands, especially in moments when her heart was willing, but her body could not take her to where she wishes to reach in her calling due to her ill health.
LIVING ON LOVE
“Living on love is giving without limit.
Without claiming any value here below.
Ah! I give without counting, truly sure.
That when one loves one does not keep counts!
Overflowing with tenderness, I have given everything.
To his divine heart… lightly I run.
I have nothing left but my only wealth
Living on love.
Living on love is banishing every fear.
Every memory of past faults.
I see no imprint of my sins.
In a moment love has burnt out everything.”
Therese of the Child Jesus
Wow! what a love song. If there is a word in the whole wide world so difficult to define, it is “LOVE,” but here is a very simple, very true definition of love from a pure heart. Amazing! “Giving without limit, without counting, overflowing with tenderness, banishing fear, etc.”
Advertisements
CANONIZATION OF SAINT THERESE
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
“After her death on the 30th of September 1897, at the age of 24, Saint Therese was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XV in 1921. In 1923 Pope Pius XI promulgated a decree which beatified Therese, describing her as the “Star of his Pontifical reign.” Finally, on the 17th of May 1925, Therese Martin, also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was canonized at St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of thirty-four cardinals, more than two hundred Arch Bishops and Bishops, innumerable priests religious and others. The Basilica was decorated with garlands of roses. She has also proclaimed a doctor of the Church.”
In fact, I’m impressed at the number of people present at her canonization, which indicates how Therese had touched the lives of many with her simple ways. This inevitably came to pass as a result of her dedication to her interior school, where she listened, communicated, and acted according to God’s will for her. She is said to be one of the most loved saints of this century because she keeps on fulfilling her mission. She is the woman most loved by the world after the mother of God. A doctor has done a lot of research, passed several exams, and is an expert in his work field. So was Saint Therese in her vocation. She did little things in extraordinary ways showing us that it is not only in doing great and mighty things that one deserves this title. Yes, she died but still lives and has visited so many countries of the world, something she wished she could do while on earth but limited by health.
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus
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Her Intercessory Power
I was so astonished when I read about her intercessory power and decided to seek her intercession one time I had difficulty. I prayed the “Glory Be Novena to Saint Therese.”
I was standing in front of the whole school that morning, conducting morning devotion. The latecomers had been stopped from running in except the kindergartens who were allowed to join their mates on their line. Suddenly, up came one of the latecomers, my class kids, Tumi, running directly towards me with a flower in hand. He must have harvested it on his way to school, for he lives on a hillside two kilometers from the school compost. The other pupils watched with amazement, eager to see what Tumi will be up to. Innocently, he offered me the flower saying, “Madam, take your ‘fiawer’. ” The whole school burst into laughter. 😁😁😁 Tumi was so happy😀as I received the flower, carried him up, and embraced him. No one could understand what this was all about, but I who have read that Saint Therese usually indicates answered prayers with flower signs. This happens the first time I took the novena. I thought it was a coincidence, but my second experience made me actually believe.
I was kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament on the 9th day of my Novena to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, and as I was meditating, my eyes caught the bouquet of flowers that was standing at the altar. Just of a sudden, a rose left the bouquet and fell on the floor. This again to me was a confirmation of answered prayers through Saint Therese, and this made me believe that what is said of her is true that when you seek her intercession, she mostly shows signs of answered prayers with flowers. No doubt, she is also popularly known as “The Little Flower of Jesus,” or only “The Little Flower.“
Truly my patroness amazes me, and I’m proud to be a student in her school. She is one of the greatest saints of modern times.
On a farm plot, you will clear the grass, till the soil, form the garden beds, apply manure, and nurse the seeds. This is not the same as my backyard garden when I have to improvise. I go to the shop and buy the containers, the soil, some seeds and seedlings, and some manure.
Back home, I fill the containers with the ground after poking holes underneath. I manure it, nurse the seeds, transplant the seedlings then set them in order in the backyard.
My seeds here are huckleberry and seedlings; pepper, tomato, waterleaf, and basil. With a watering can, some water is sprinkled to give the soil moisture, which, together with warmth from the sun rays, will enable germination.
The seeds then take at most ten days to germinate and give roots, respectively, depending on the weather. This is always at the beginning of summer when the snow has all disappeared, and the weather becomes warmer.
Backyard garden prepared and seeds nursed
This is what the garden will look like after planting.
I keep doing watering especially on days of no rain, making sure I don’t put too much water since the soil is not as deep as on a farm plot. This video shows what it looks like in three weeks. I will then add organic or artificial manure to enrich the soil so the vegetable has more nutrients and continue growing. By five to six weeks, depending on the weather, I should be expecting fresh vegetables also called “Njama-njama” in my local language.
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By the sixth or seventh week, my vegetable is fully ready for harvesting. The tomato and pepper usually take a bit longer. By the second or third harvest of the huckleberry, they will also be ready.
Huckleberry, pepper, water-leaf, and basil
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This is the end result. The vegetable is ready for the table. O yes! “We eat to live.”
Corn fufu and njyama-njama. Əbanǝ nǝ̀ ǹjyânkaŋǝ̀
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My pepper plant is always awesome. It will continue to blossom till winter comes and winter it.
Conclusion
This is how my backyard garden came to reality. All thanks to God for the mystery of plant growth. I did the preparation, nursed the seeds, and did some watering but I do not know how the plants grow. I just see them germinate and increase in size every day. God will never stop doing miracles.
Very early, at about 5:30 AM that morning, I got up, hurried with my morning chores, and got myself ready. I never wanted to miss any bit of the Mass. This quarantine style of Mass with my Bishop on Pentecost 2020 was the first of its kind in my life as a Christian. As compared to the past, I would follow a one-week Pentecost revival program which usually ends with a big Pentecost Mass. This time instead, my Bishop was on TV with a multitude of Christians watching all over the world. It made me believe that “With God everything is possible”. I preferred the screen in the basement because it was the largest in our home. I started following the Mass deeply as though I was in Church with no knowledge that my daughter was observing me and taking some photos with her cell phone.
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After the Penitential Rite and the proclamation of the word, came the invocation of the Holy Spirit in a song by the singing minister. As I kneel listening keenly and reflecting on the lyrics of the song, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit right in me. Then I prayed to ask the Holy Spirit to also touch my family, friends, and Christians all over the world, who are having the same quarantine experience as I do, and bring a powerful solution to the crisis brought upon human beings by the CoronaVirus.
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The Bishop proceeds with a very lively sermon filled with the spirit of Pentecost. He invites everyone to be open and receive the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit as of the first Pentecost for the renewal of the whole world. I was filled with awe as I sat listening to his heart-searching sermon.
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The beautiful ending of the Bishop’s sermon, “COME HOLY SPIRIT! COME HOLY SPIRIT! COME HOLY SPIRIT!”, was another spirit-filled and touching moment. It was like the Bishop just pulled the Holy Spirit out from heaven to earth and I felt His powerful presence in the room.
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Kneeling before the altar at Consecration. as I see through the TV, I surrendered myself, my family, and the whole world to the Holy Spirit. As I followed the Eucharistic Prayer, I was touched that much was being said about the Holy Spirit that I understood more than before.
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Then came the moment of Spiritual Communion when I recited the prayer with passion, opening the door of my heart to let Him enter, as the Bible says “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with me”. Rev 3:20
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During Announcements, I decided to celebrate Pentecost with my Bishop in this way. At the end of the Mass, the announcements made by the Bishop were filled with good news. He told Christians how gradually the Churches are going to open their doors again for Christian worship as a community. I remember that one of the definitions of the Church is “A Community of Christians” and not individual Christians in their homes.
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Though Christians were not in Church physically, they were Spiritual as I could see the Bishop blessing us as he exited the physically empty Church. A song came to my mind that says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I long to live in the house of God every day of my life”. Yes, this longing eats me up, and I thought that surely every true Christian at this moment of the pandemic when the Church’s doors are physically closed.
I prayed and said that so long as the Spirit lives and moves and renews the face of the earth, so will Mother Earth continue to produce her fruits and take care of her upspring, even though she mourns and groans, waiting for the right moment that she will open her mouth and swallow the ugly Coronavirus, leaving no trace of it, as the Bible says, “The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth”. (Rev. 12:16)
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I thought, why do we have to go through all this quarantine thing? The blame is all on the devilish pandemic. But, I also remembered, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God”, not even the ugly Coronavirus for “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us”(Rom. 8:35-37). I keep trusting in God.
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A mixed fraction is made up of a whole number and a proper fraction. Improper fractions are usually converted to get mixed fractions. We can multiply and divided mixed fractions in different ways. Here are some examples.
The English language alphabet is one of the most widely used writing systems in the world. It consists of 26 letters, each with its own unique sound and shape.
Understanding the English language alphabet is essential to learning the language and communication, as it is the foundation of written and spoken English. The English language alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, which was introduced to Britain by the Romans in the 1st century AD. The Latin alphabet had fewer letters than the English language alphabet, but it formed the basis for the modern English alphabet that we use today.
The English language alphabet consists of 5 vowels and 21 consonants. The vowels are
A, E, I, O, and U.
These letters represent the sounds that we make when we speak without closing our mouth, tongue, or lips.
The 21 consonants represent the sounds that we make when we speak by closing our mouth, tongue, or lips, and they are
B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z.
Each letter in the English language alphabet also has a unique shape. The shape of each letter represents the way that we write it, and it helps us to recognize and learn the letters.
Some letters, like A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, are written with straight lines and curves, while others, like M, N, and W, are written with more complex shapes. One benefit of learning the English language alphabet is that it makes learning English easier. Once you know the alphabet, you can begin to read and write English words. This is because English words are made up of letters from the alphabet.
For example, the word “apple” is spelled A-P-P-L-E, and the word “cat” is spelled C-A-T.
In conclusion, the English language alphabet is the foundation of written and spoken English. It consists of 26 letters, each with its own unique sound and shape. Understanding the English alphabet is essential to learning the language and communication. It also makes learning English easier since it allows you to read and write English words.
These videos will help us understand the English Language Alphabet more and learn how to write letters.
American idioms apply some elbow grease – put some physical effort into what you’re doing armed to the teeth – in possession of a lot of weapons bare bones – a very basic model or version, with no extras or add-ons bundle of nerves – very nervous or anxious about something by the skin of your teeth – just barelyContinue reading “Commonly used American Idioms”
This lesson is aimed at helping those pupils who, after passing through level one (Primary 1 and 2) reach levels two and three (Primary 3 – 6) without being able to solve a simple equation in Mathematics. This makes them fail their exams, not because they are dull. Some teachers also hurriedly teach Mathematics without taking into consideration some basic principles. This class of pupils is merely slow to understand and needs gradual guidance in the act of calculation. This blog answers the difficulties faced by these pupils at all levels. Parents and teachers are advised to use this book for a better result in the performance of the Slow Learners.
Multiplication by 2 is basic assistance to kids or beginners in Mathematics, especially slow learners. A practical approach to the four rules.
Multiplication by 2
Education For All 