Archives for February 2005

Penance, Penance, Penance!

VATICAN CITY, JUN 26, 2000 (VIS) – Given below is the complete translation of the original Portuguese text of the third part of the secret of Fatima, revealed to the three shepherd children at Cova da Iria-Fatima on July 13, 1917, and committed to paper by Sr. Lucia on January 3, 1944:

“I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.

“After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father’. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.”

The Shush Factor

A certain mustachioed librarian with muscles of steel was sitting in a saloon in Gallup, New Mexico, enjoying the latest issue of Library Trends and a double Wild Turkey, straight up, when a taunting “shush” followed by a whiskey-breathed cackle arose from the other end of the bar. “Them’s fightin’ words,” said the barrel-chested bibliophile, adding, parenthetically, “(if, indeed, ‘shush’ can be called ‘words’)”; and, setting aside his scholarly journal, taking care (also parenthetically) not to damage its spine, he pulled out his ALA-accredited six-shooter and shot a hole right through that lily-livered sapsucker’s copy of Men’s Health.

Dream Library

Which of the following most nearly corresponds to your dream library?

(a) Utilitarian warehouse of knowledge. (b) Quiet zone enforced by simmeringly sexy bifocal-clad intelligent agents. (c) Technology playground. (d) Palace of words where every man and woman is royalty. (e) Temple of learning, holy place, sacred space. (e) Noisy marketplace of ideas, grist mill of thought, where ideas are sought and found and celebrated and fought over, sometimes in loud voices, violent gesticulations, and the occasional barroom-style brawl. (f) Nature preserve where wild beasts roam freely among the stacks. (g) Coffeehouse where music and philosophy blend with caffeine and serotonin in a volatile mix. (h) 24-hour Fitness center of the mind and soul. (i) Interdisciplinary mental health spa. (j) Smorgasbord of virtually everything. (k) Books, books, and more books!

Kyrie Eleison

Hunter S. Thompson killed himself on Sunday. May God have mercy on him.

Valentine

Ashley P
You’re very smart
Your SLP
And language chart
Make you adept
At finding slips
When they have crept
Up on my lips
But also you
Can use your skill
To make lips do
What fits the bill
On Valentine’s
Or other days
Among the pines
Where cattle graze
Or on the shore
Or out at sea
I say therefore
My dear kiss me!