Today is a travel day, and the next few days will be busy and hectic.  I will be back to Oestrich-Winkel on Sunday night, so beck here next Monday morning.  Pray for me and I pray for you. Internet access will only be occasional in these travels to Bavaria. 

Prayer for a Happy Death

O God, great and omnipotent judge of the living and the dead, we are to appear before you after this short life to render an account of our works. Give us the grace to prepare for our last hour by a devout and holy life, and protect us against a sudden and unprovided death. Let us remember our frailty and mortality, that we may always live in the ways of your commandments. Teach us to "watch and pray" (Lk 21:36), that when your summons comes for our departure from this world, we may go forth to meet you, experience a merciful judgment, and rejoice in everlasting happiness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I will be getting on a train early Tuesday, traveling south so I can catch a late afternoon flight from London to Frankfurt. So this podcast is being posted earlier than normal.  Listen to it on Tuesday Morning.  Pray for safe travel for me.  Thanks.

I have a hobby.  I make rosaries. One year we as a parish raised a little over $5000 selling and raffling off these rosaries.  Some I made with Swarovski crystal beads we sold for $100, and the others I made with semi-precious stones we sold for $50.  The monies paid for one year the costs of the First Communion program at the parish.

Well I decided that I would bring my rosary building supplies along on this little exile of mine.  I had lots of sterling wire, several crosses, and only one center left.  I figured I would figure out how to get some more centers when I had a more stable address.

So the first rosary was going to be for me.  I began to build it when I was in Pittsburgh for the CMAA Colloquium,  and I finished in Germany where I was enjoying the hospitality of Harry and Beverly Stevens

Sterling silver wire, center and crucifix, grey agate 6mm stones.  The crucifix is a sterling silver Irish penal cross.  It is a daily reminder that I am not alone in experiencing persecution.

I figured in my travels, and the various tombs I might visit, this rosary would become a third class relic of Francis of Assisi, Gaspar del Bufalo, and if I am lucky, maybe John Paul II.  Francis is accomplished, still have to work on those other two.

Well, in these trips to Ireland and England I have come up with a few surprises.

My rosary is now a third class relic of

     1.  St. Francis of Assisi
     2.  St. Oliver Plunkett
     3.  St. Thomas More
     4.  St. John Fisher
     5.  The Holy English Martyrs
     6.  St. Edward the Confessor
     7.  Bl. John Henry Newman
     8.  Bl. Dominic Barberi

I have kept some good company this summer