You know that little thrill that one gets upon happening across an old fragment of paper, a card, newspaper cutting or any random flat object that has been used as a bookmark in an old book? Can you imagine coming across one in a book dating back to the Middle Ages? Jenneka Janzen covers those and other more dedicated bookmarks, including the delightfully simple yet clever dial string in her post Mark Their Words: Medieval Bookmarks from Medieval Fragments. Give me one of those over “control F” any day!
Moving on to the eighth episode in our series of Nine Discourses for Times of Calamities by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Prayers Appease God, and Avert from us the Chastisement we Deserve, provided we purpose to Amend, from Catholic Harbor of Faith and Morals. It is an encouraging sermon, broken into two points, that elaborates on the part that heartfelt prayer plays in making amends. “When God is solicited, He gives more than is asked of Him, He giveth to all men abundantly. When one man asks a favor of another whom he may have formerly injured, the latter usually reproaches him with the injury that had been done him; but not so God--he never upbraideth. When we beg of Him some grace for the good of our souls, He never reproaches us with the offences which we have committed against Him; but He hears us, and consoles us as though we had always served Him faithfully.”