The weekend!

Ahhh, Saturday morning! A good night's sleep and now a new morning to get things done around the house. I have clothes washing already, getting ready to take a shower, then get some dishes done in the kitchen. Coffeepot is going...getting ready to settle in with some more studying.

Well, Saddam Hussein is gone. Iraq did what they felt they had to do. I think some of the violence will end, as those supporters of his will now realize he cannot re-assume power and they are out. But I believe most of the car-bombings and roadside bombs will continue. It is more the influence of Syria and Iran rather than the Ba'athists of Saddam. Plus, don't forget that Syria is Ba'athist as well. I hope that this chapter in the history of Iraq is now closed and the whole country can move forward to a more peaceful state.

I'm going to listen to the Met opera this afternoon. It is scheduled to be Mozart's Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute). A little comedy and a lot of great singing.

Then the Boston Bruins are in town tonight to face the Preds. I always enjoy watching one of the "Original Six" play. For those not familiar with the term, "Original Six" refers to the original six teams in the National Hockey League--Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. For most of the middle of the 20th century, they were it for major league hockey. The league started expanding in 1967. The Preds lost to Dallas last night 4-1 and Boston beat my Black Hawks 5-3. So, I really don't have a favorite in this match-up. Probably root for the Preds so they can pull a few more points ahead of Detroit.

Today, December 30, we celebrate the feasts of :

St. Anysia of Salonika (Greek, virgin, martyred by the sword in 304)

St. Anysius of Salonika (Greek, bishop, c. 410)

Sts. Appian, Donatus, Honorius, Mansuetus, Severus, and four companions (Egyptian, martyred at Alexandria by heretics c. 483)

St. Egwin of Worcester (English, nobleman, Benedictine monk, bishop, d. 717)

St. Eugene of Milan (Italian, bishop)

Sts. Sabinus, Exuperantius, Marcellus, and Venustian of Spoleto (Italian ... bishop, two deacons, layman ... martyred in 303)

St. John Alcober Figuero (Spanish, Dominican missionary priest, martyred by strangling in China in 1748 [canonized 2000])

St. Liberius of Ravenna (Italian, bishop, c. 200)

Bl. Margaret Colonna [Margherita] (Roman, noblewoman, abbess, d. 1284)

Bl. Matthia dei Nazzarei (Italian, Benedictine [later Poor Clare] abbess for 40 years, d. 1213)

St. Ralph of Vaucelles (English, Cistercian abbot in France, d. 1152)

St. Raynerius of Aquila (Italian, bishop, d. 1077)

Also, December 30 was always the Feast of the Holy Family, before they tinkered with the calendar and made it a movable feast to fall on the Sunday after Christmas.

Yesterday was the feast of St. Thomas a' Becket, the famous Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170 by the soldiers of King Henry II of England.

I found a good prayer for this holiday season...Slow Me Down:

Slow me down Lord,
ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting of my mind.

Teach me the art of slowing down,
to look at a flower,
to chat to a friend,
to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable
of the hare and the tortoise,
that I may know that the race
is not always to the swift,
that there is more to life than
increasing its speed.

Let me look upward into the
branches of the towering oak
and know that it grew great and
strong because it grew slowly
and well.

Slow me down, Lord, and inspire
me to send my roots deep into
the soil of life's enduring
values that I may grow toward
the stars of my greater destiny.

--from The Catholic Prayer Book, 1984, compiled by Msgr. Michael Buckley

OK, now on with the day!