Summer 2022: The Virtue of Prudence

Join us as we explore Prudence, along with corresponding virtues Diligence, Discretion and Wisdom. In these pages you will find poetry, the first installment of a serial story, a discussion of boundaries, an interview with Phil Lollar of Adventures in Odyssey, and plenty more. We are also continuing our seasonal picture contest… check it out!

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The Stillness of the Summer Solstice

Short strings of words that breathe and sigh as songs
Sunflowers fainting in the afternoon
A treefrog pulsing on the windowpane
Ladybugs drowsing on a tomato leaf

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The Theory and Practice of Summer

A curious fact about Midsummer is that it does not fall in the middle of our calendar summer. However, Midsummer does fall in the middle of true summer, around the time of the solstice and of St. John’s Day. In the context of trees and grasses and flowers and agriculture, summer began months ago and is now at its peak, now declining with the sun towards Michaelmas and autumn.

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St. John’s Bonfire

“Filomena, Filomena! Mama says make it quick. Mama, Papa, Francisco and I are already ready!” blurted ten-year-old Fatima. 
“I know; I’ll be out in a minute!” Filomena called back in exasperation.

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St. John the Baptist’s Birthday

Saint John the Baptist, a man not shaken by the wind, a man not dressed in the finery of the palace, eater of locusts. Well, that last one doesn’t sound quite as impressive, but he did eat locusts as well as whatever he could find in the desert near the Jordan River. He lived the life God called him to live, and he lived it well, so he has a feast day in the Calendar of Saints….

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Midsummer Mysteries

One of the merry mysteries of midsummer
Is that midsummer isn’t midsummer at all
Maybe it was, back in the shadows of time
When Tolkien’s fairies blessed a happier world

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Summer

The summer is here, the sun beating down
This intense heart bringing so many frowns
Time to turn that frown into a smile
We haven’t been to the beach in a while…

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Summer of the Blue Helmets

Sergeant Schneider barked at us, his young heroes
And made us crawl the beach at Oceanside
And tho’ he made each day’s harsh training1 sting
One evening at Mass we heard sweet children sing…

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Summer In the Garden II

But we consult the winds, the clouds, the stars
Whose songs and shapes and brilliant silences
Allow us to savor all mysteries
The hymns of Creation from long ago…

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Summer in the Garden

Summer is better in theory than in practice:
Watermelon days barefootin’ in the shade
Pole-fishing for perch in the neighbor’s pond
Oak-tree afternoons lost in a library book…

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Summer Sun

Summer sun does shine sheenly
Raising rays radiant rich
Leaves live and grow with glory
Calid colours crowd our land…

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