Homespun cloth was almost always spun, by people all over the world, from fibers grown in the "family hemp patch." In America, this tradition lasted from the Pilgrims (1620s) until hemp's prohibition in the 1930s.*
*In the 1930s, Congress was told by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that many Polish-Americans still grow pot in their backyards to make their winter "long johns" and work clothes, and greeted the agents with shotguns for stealing their next year's clothes (Jack Herer, "The Emperor wears no clothes", AH HA PUBLISHING, USA - http://www.jackherer.com).
*
2
Discovering
the Cross of Christ
When the cross is mentioned, the first thought may be a negative one: pain, or absence of something or someone. At the heart of the cross, is the positive: a fullness of love so profound that no evil can overcome it. To know that I am loved despite my faults is humbling; it also encourages me to see God in a new light.
"The contract of union between the children of human beings and Jesus Christ was made by the Cross and on the Cross. It was on the Cross that we became attached to him, and became sharers in his merits, as though we had died with him " (Lenten Pastoral, 1860).
Eugene de Mazenod became aware that he was wasting his life. He had not succeeded in founding a family. He had failed to re-establish his family fortune. He no longer knew what to do with his time. He did not see any future in store for him.
"I can find nothing to entertain me. I have a strong dose of disgust for this country" (Letter to his father, March 9, 1804).
It was in the midst of this disappointment and disgust that God awaited him. It happened on Good Friday 1807, during the liturgy of the Passion, when the Cross was being solemnly presented for the veneration of the faithful. He had never before taken the time to look upon the Cross with the eyes of faith. It had never occurred to him that this Cross concerned him personally. He who was nailed to that Cross was stretching out his arms to receive him, Eugene, personally.
For the first time in his life, Eugene stopped before this man who was dying for humanity, for each man and woman individually and therefore for him. This was an overwhelming discovery of a God who was simply saying to him: "Look at me on the Cross. If I am here, it is because of you; it is because I love you."
"How can I forget the bitter tears that the sight of the Cross brought streaming from my eyes one Good Friday? Indeed they welled up from my heart. There was no stopping them.... I was in a state of mortal sin and it was precisely this which made me grieve. But my soul was never so satisfied and never had I experienced such happiness. Despite my grief, or rather through my grief, my soul took wings towards its last end, God, its only good. The very memory of that event fills my heart with sweet satisfaction" (Retreat, December 1814).
In the depths of despair, he experienced a hand outstretched towards him. God became a Person, someone who had loved him first of all, and loved him as he was. A light shone in the midst of his moral poverty and despair. His tears of sorrow become tears of joy.
"Who brought this prodigy about, to my constant astonishment, and to my confusion? Once again it is the infinite mercy of my God" (Retreat, December 1814).
At that moment he saw himself as one coming out of the tomb. He experienced a new birth and his life was at last becoming meaningful, a meaningfulness for which he had searched for as long and could not find because, to his own detriment, he had been looking for it outside of God.
Eugene de Mazenod did not see the Cross as something morbid. On the contrary, it was the place where the mercy of a tender, loving God was finally revealed. He is a God who does not want the death of the sinner but that he or she might have life and happiness. The Cross is the triumph of love:
"It was on Calvary that our divine Savior completed his work of redeeming humanity" (Letter to his grandmother, September 15, 1809).
The knowledge of God which Eugene acquired on that day was much more than just a cerebral acquaintance. It was deeply heartfelt knowledge. It was a loving experience. The God, whom Eugene had until now thought of as the All-Powerful or maybe the Creator, now took on a human appearance, that of the Crucified, that of a person who had loved him first, whose love is gratuitous, who loves simply because God is Love.
Eugene experienced a God who was not "repulsed" by his dissolute life, a God who had sought him out untiringly, "as though he could not be happy without him." God had taken the risk of revealing himself to Eugene's heart just as he was, complete with the weakness and nakedness displayed on the Cross.
Overwhelmed as he was on that Good Friday, he discovered that there was no happiness without the Cross because no happiness is possible without love. God, who loved him even unto death, became the sole aim and object of his life, his final end. Eugene, in his turn, fell in love with the One who had given his life for his sake:
"Would to heaven that I had never turned away from that standard of the Cross, from which flow true joy and veritable happiness" (Retreat, December 1814).
From then onwards his sinfulness became a source of wonder. He discovered the deeper meaning of the words of St. Paul to proclaim that only through the discovery of sin and the truth about one's self can one be led to the discovery of the immensely gratuitous love of the Crucified One:
"Two streams of tears flow with peace and sweetness and my soul is in such a state of ecstasy that I cannot express it ... if the thought of my sinfulness still comes back to me, it is because love has given it another appearance..." (Letter to Mr. Duclaux, December 21, 1811).
Deeply touched as his heart was, Eugene became sufficiently humble to beg for love and for the tenderness and mercy of the Savior:
"My Lord, my God, my Love, bring me to love you; this only do I ask, for I know full well that this is everything. Give me your love! ... The past is still present to my mind ... but you, O my Savior, do you forget it, and keep in mind only your mercies" (Retreat Notes, December 1-21, 1811).
If we wish to sum up in one phrase the spirituality of St. Eugene, we may do so by expressing his deep sense of awe in the presence of the Cross. He never ceased to be amazed by this overflowing love manifested by God in his Son Jesus:
"The more I alienated myself from you, the more you sought me out. You were the tender and pampering father who never tired of supporting and embracing your beloved son" (Retreat Notes, December 1-21, 1811).
He was surprised by his priestly vocation: "Who brought about this prodigy, to my constant astonishment and confusion?" (Retreat, December 1814)
He was also astounded by his vocation as Founder of a Missionary Congregation "whose only distinctive sign will be the crucified Lord" (Oblate Rule of 1818).
He was astonished too by his vocation as a preacher whose only mission will be "to preach Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ crucified" (Oblate Rule of 1826).
Finally, his astonishment was great at the end of his life, as he calmly watched the approach of death: "my first thought is to lose myself in thanksgiving before God" (Last Will and Testament, August 1, 1854).
Every moment of his life, he was wonder-struck in the presence of the Cross of Christ:
"Yes, my God, I would like to love you as much as you love yourself" (Retreat Notes, December 1-21, 1811).
A Meditation in the Company
of St. Eugene
how I too would love to have your Good Friday experience! I too wish to have, once and for all, the enthusiasm inspired by the loving glance of Christ and allow myself to be swept up in the whirlwind engendered by the exchange of glances, in the outstretched arms which express a fidelity which is stronger than death.
Teach me to pause before the Cross so as to get away from the habits and routine of my life.
Teach me to find in the Cross the only meaning of my life because in it love is crystallized, love is hoped for and love is received, love is given in return for love.
Teach me to see the Cross as the mirror which shows me my real face. Not the face of a poor and unfaithful sinner, but the face of one with whom God has fallen in love "when he wishes his heart to speak to mine."
Teach me to find the meaning of each day "by placing everything at the foot of the Cross... and having peace of mind thereafter" (Letter to his mother, October 14, 1811).
Teach me to be an enthusiast of the folly of the Cross and to repeat every day: "it is unthinkable that one should be loved so much" and to say as you said in imitation of the Apostle Paul: "Far be it from me to glory in anything except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal 6:4).
Reflection Questions
What feelings does the sight of Christ on the cross bring to mind? How does the cross give me strength? What has been my experience of being loved despite my failings? When has my heart been touched by the love God has for me? (Bernard Dullier, "15 days of prayer with SAINT EUGENE DE MAZENOD", NEW CITY PRESS, Hyde Park, NY 2009).
00:55 Hrs. Jem jablko.
01:55 Hrs. Jem kawalek ananasa.
02:03 Hrs. Siusiu (zolte) + waze sie przed pojsciem do lozka. 74 kg.
04:33 Hrs. Budzi mnie siusiu (slomkowe + puszyste).
07:01 Hrs. Budzi mnie siusiu (slomkowe + puszyste) + za oknem pada deszcz.
08:05 Hrs. Budze sie + lektura tronowa. "Niedziela".
"Polska urosnie do znaczenia potegi moralnej i bedzie natchnieniem przyszlosci Europy, jezeli nie ulegnie bezboznicrtwu, a w rozgrywce duchow pozostanie niezachwianie po stronie Boga. Jako promieniujacy osrodek chrzescijanski Polska bedzie powaga i moze odegrac role wzoru oraz posredniczki oczekiwanego braterstwa narodow, ktorego sama gra dyplomatyczna zbudowac niepodobna" - KARD. AUGUST HLOND
Zaslugi Polakow
To Polacy, pierwsi w swiecie, juz w XV wieku powiedzieli Krzyzakom, ze nie wolno nawracac pogan na wiare chrzescijanska ogniem i mieczem. To husaria krola Jana III Sobieskiego przyszla z pomoca Europie w 1683 r., gdy Turcy zdobywali panstwo po panstwie i zblizali sie do Rzymu. To odwazni polscy zolnierze i modlacy sie ludzie Warszawy obronili Europe przed bolszewikami i komunizmem w 1920 r. To Polacy podjeli wojne z hitlerowskimi Niemcami w obronie wlasnego kraju, mimo ze nie znalezli wsparcia ze strony swoich przyjaciol. To polski narod nigdy nie pogodzil sie z okupacja Ojczyzny po II wojnie swiatowej, az doprowadzil do rozpadu Zwiazku Radzieckiego. Dlaczego wiec dzis ten narod, ktory tyle razy dal wyraz umilowaniu Europy, jest tak atakowany? Dlaczego sie go opluwa i posadza o czyny, ktore zawsze byly mu obce? (Ks. Jozef Niznik, "Czy znow sw. Andrzej Bobola uratuje Ojczyzne? Wiele krzywdzacych slow mowi sie dzis w swiecie o Polsce i Polakach. Nie jest to latwy czas dla naszego narodu", NIEDZIELA, 13 maja 2018).
08:49 Hrs. Wskakuje na wage APSCO. 72 kg.
08:55 Hrs. Zrywam kartke z kalendarza: "Wesolo w maju ze slowikiem w gaju". Na dworze deszcz i wiatr. CBC radio podaje temperature w Toronto 12C. Temperatura na tarasie 15C + temp. w kuchni 21C (piec w domu chodzi).
08:56 Hrs. Wkladam do zamrazalnika sloik przegotowanej wody na wode strukturowana.
08:58 Hrs. Biore lyzke stolowa oleju z lnu na pusty zoladek.
09:05 Hrs. 1-sza szklanka wody.
09:15 Hrs. 2-ga szklanka wody + 2 daktyle + zelatynka 600 mg RxOmega-3 + 4 kapsulki 200 mg (800 mg) Magnesium Bis-Glycinate.
10:15 Hrs. Jem banana.
11:32 Hrs. Siusiu (slomkowe + puszyste) + lyzeczka oleju kokosowego doustnie.
12:00 Hrs. Podnosze z werandy "National Post" z " 'We make such a great team': Duke of Sussex to New Wife. 'Proud to be a woman and a feminist'. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, appears on Royal website" na okladce + deszczowo, mokro + spiew ptakow. Troche chlodnawo.
12:09 Hrs. Jem kubek 100g jogurtu OIKOS + "Every four hours someone looses a limp for diabetes" - podaje CBC radio.
13:10 Hrs. Jem 5 kromek chleba orkiszowego posmarowane dzemem z czarnej porzeczki + zelatynka 10,000 IU witaminy A + 5 zelatynek 1000 IU (5000 IU) witaminy D3 + zelatynka 400 IU witaminy E + kapsulka 100 mcg witaminy K2 + kawalek czekolady 74% + szklanka herbaty owocowej GLOG.
14:10 Hrs. 3-cia szklanka wody.
15:30 Hrs. Siusiu (slomkowe). Na dworze zachmurzenie duze. CBC radio podaje temperature w Toronto 16C. Temperatura na tarasie 20C + temp. w kuchni 23C.
15:44 Hrs. 4-ta szklanka wody + 10 pestek z moreli (wit. B17) + 5 suszonych moreli + kapsulka 200 mg Coenzyme Q10 + tabletka multiwitaminy Centrum Men 50+.
16:18 Hrs. Jem jablko.
17:05 Hrs. Jem banana.
18:16 Hrs. Siusiu (zolte + puszyste) + jem kawalek ananasa.
19:10 Hrs. Wrzucam na Facebook + Twitter: "Minister Grobarczyk: Ustka moze stac sie dominujacym portem rybackim na srodkowym wybrzezu".
19:14 Hrs. Siusiu (jasno-slomkowe + puszyste).
19:42 Hrs. Wyjmuje poczte ze skrzynki na listy + magazyn "SP&T News" z "Marketing do millennials. How to sell security systems to the so-called dream demographic" + spiew ptakow + wystawiam 3 torby z naturalnymi brudami z ogrodka (chwasty, liscie, ziemia, krzaki i galazki).
20:03 Hrs. 5-ta szklanka wody.
20:15 Hrs. Siusiu (jasno-slomkowe + puszyste).
20:25 Hrs. Pije szkalnke zielonej herbaty + 4 kapsulki 200 mg (800 mg) Magnesium Bis-Glycinate + zelatynka 600 mg RxOmega-3.
21:05 Hrs. Jem miske jagly.
21:10 Hrs. Siusiu (jasno-slomkowe + puszyste).
21:35 Hrs. Slucham na zywo B.B. King, Gary Moore and Luther Allison z 1996 r. (https://www.facebook.com/GuitarLegacy/videos/1884402498244956/).
22:13 Hrs. Siusiu (jasno-slomkowe + lekko puszyste).
22:35 Hrs. 2-ga lektura tronowa. "Niedziela".
TOMASZ WINIARSKI: Czy nie uwaza Pan, ze prawowitym spadkobiercom ofiar Holokaustu nalezy sie sprawiedliwosc, czyli zwrot nieruchomosci lub odszkodowanie?
ZYGMUNT STASZEWSKI: Oczywiscie, ze tak, jednak te odszkodowania powinny byc wyplacone przez tych, ktorzy odbierali to mienie, czyli przez Republike Federalna Niemiec jako prawnego spadkobierce III Rzeszy i przez Rosje jako prawnego spadkobierce ZSRR. Ponadto wszystkie przepisy dotyczace rekompensat dla spadkobiercow powinny obejmoiwac wszystkie grupy etniczne, a nie tylko Zydow ("Polonijne protesty przecie JUST Act", NIEDZIELA, 13 maja 2018).
22:50 Hrs. Wskakuje na wage APSCO. 74 kg.
23:05 Hrs. Zmieniam filter w piecu + zacinam sie koncem ostrej blachy + krew.
23:20 Hrs. Siusiu (prawie przezroczyste).
23:43 Hrs. 6-ta szklanka wody strukturowanej.
23:52 Hrs. 7-ma szklanka wody strukturowanej.
23:59 Hrs. Wynosze dwa pojemniki ze smiecmi na chodnik. Na dworze dosc dieplo. Temperatura na tarasie 17C + temp. w kuchni 20C.
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