Dr. Linda L. Powell

I don’t know why I have come back to this.  I know why I quit writing.  I was working and trying to create art and there wasn’t enough time.   I really was trying to do too much.

Now, I am retired.  I am creating art on a daily basis.  I am even selling a few pieces here and there.  (Art has always been my first love; then writing.)  And, I thought I’d start lending my opinion again especially since the Church seems to be in such chaos again.  Just wanted to be sure to get on here and commit.

My next post will be next Saturday when I will tell you about the Mass that we attend every Sunday at St. Aelred Catholic Church.  This Latin Mass, traditional Catholic, has found a Mass that I think I can live with.  Our only TLM is 60 miles away and while that doesn’t seem to be far for most, my body can’t drive that far anymore.

I’m holding out some hope that our new Archbishop will make more Latin Masses available to us.  I wish Washington, DC. luck with Archbishop Gregory–they will need it.

Most holy Virgin, who wast pleasing to the Lord and became His Mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on the wretched who implore thy powerful patronage. The wicked serpent, against whom was hurled the first curse, continues fiercely to attack and ensnare the unhappy children of Eve. Do thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen and advocate, who from the first instant of thy conception didst crush the head of the enemy, receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive at the port of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church and Christian society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and of victory and of peace. Amen.

In Thy conception, O Virgin Mary, thou wast immaculate; pray for us to the Father, Whose Son, Jesus Christ conceived of the Holy Ghost, thou didst bring forth.

Every year, from November 5 to December 8, I renew my Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary.  It is a wondrous practice and I have been doing it for many, many years.  It is an excellent way to prepare for Advent and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The prayers are wonderful also.  I am sharing this one for all of you.  Enjoy!

“O most loving Jesus, deign to let me pour forth my gratitude before Thee, for the grace Thou hast bestowed upon me in giving me to Thy holy Mother through the devotion of Holy Bondage, that she may be my advocate in the presence of Thy majesty and my support in my extreme misery. Alas, O Lord! I am so wretched that without this dear Mother I should be certainly lost. Yes, Mary is necessary for me at Thy side and everywhere that she may appease Thy just wrath, because I have so often offended Thee; that she may save me from the eternal punishment of Thy justice, which I deserve; that she may contemplate Thee, speak to Thee, pray to Thee, approach Thee and please Thee; that she may help me to save my soul and the souls of others; in short, Mary is necessary for me that I may always do Thy holy will and seek Thy greater glory in all things. Ah, would that I could proclaim throughout the whole world the mercy that Thou hast shown to me ! Would that everyone might know I should be already damned, were it not for Mary! Would that I might offer worthy thanksgiving for so great a blessing! Mary is in me. Oh, what a treasure! Oh, what a consolation! And shall I not be entirely hers? Oh, what ingratitude! My dear Saviour, send me death rather than such a calamity, for I would rather die than live without belonging entirely to Mary. With St. John the Evangelist at the foot of the Cross, I have taken her a thousand times for my own and as many times have given myself to her; but if I have not yet done it as Thou, dear Jesus, dost wish, I now renew this offering as Thou dost desire me to renew it. And if Thou seest in my soul or my body anything that does not belong to this august princess, I pray Thee to take it and cast it far from me, for whatever in me does not belong to Mary is unworthy of Thee.

O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces. Plant in my soul the Tree of true Life, which is Mary; cultivate it and tend it so that it may grow and blossom and bring forth the fruit of life in abundance. O Holy Spirit, give me great devotion to Mary, Thy faithful spouse; give me great confidence in her maternal heart and an abiding refuge in her mercy, so that by her Thou mayest truly form in me Jesus Christ, great and mighty, unto the fullness of His perfect age. Amen.”

Today, Charlie and I have been married 29 years.  He asked me last night why I thought we have been married all these years.  I was flippant and told him because of stubbornness, pigheadedness, and maybe a little love.

But, I was having trouble sleeping last night, so in between hands of “Free Cell” on my computer, I thought a little more deeply about his question.

We had no “right” to “make” it.  Our marriage longevity has to have been a gift from God.  We had both been divorced for 4 years at the time of our marriage.   Second marriages have a larger divorce rate than the 50% of first marriages.  And, I was a doctoral student in the Psychology Department of the University of Cincinnati.  That department had a divorce rate of 80%.

At the time of our civil marriage, I was in therapy for the damage that was done to me from the first marriage, but our pastor at St. Martin’s wanted me to go through the annulment proceedings.  I was  stubborn and sinful.  (Charlie’s first marriage was annulled already.)  Fortunately Father Mick never gave up on me or us and when I finally went to him 3 years later, he looked at me and said, “it’s about time.”   We were con-validated in 1991.

We were only married 5 years, when he had a collapsed lung and spent Christmas of ’92 in the hospital recovering from that and a mysterious virus in his lung that even the CDC couldn’t identify.  In 1995, he had a heart attack and 7 by passes in December followed by two angioplasties in February of 1996.  During all of these hospitalizations, he was between jobs and had no health insurance.  In a space of 3 years, we were now in debt for about a quarter of a million dollars.  “In sickness and in health, and in richer or poorer,” right?

BTW, I wrote my dissertation on a legal pad, sitting by his bedside in the hospital in 1995-96, defended it in May of 1996, and received my doctorate in June, 1996.  He was always my biggest cheerleader!

We began to live our simple life that we live today.   It’s almost been monastic in a way and our faith has sustained us.  He has been in and out of hospitals for all these years with his heart; the most recent being in August, 2011 when he had a stent inserted.   He was on disability at the time and uninsurable.  The doctor didn’t think that he could keep him alive for the 4 months that it would have taken for Medicare to be available to him.   Just as an aside, there was a time that his medicines were costing us about 800 dollars a month.   His life has always been more precious to me than anything else in the whole world with the exception of my children and grandchildren.

But, this doesn’t answer Charlie’s question.  Why do I think we have been married all these years when all the odds were against us?

I think it’s because we moved from Cincinnati  to Atlanta in 1999, seventeen years ago.  We each had 3 children but none with each other.  We had no shared history, even though we had a lot in common.  Marriage relationships have to be built on a bond that is forged in the past.  Our pasts didn’t include each other in our youth.  That was reserved for our first spouses.  So, like pioneers, we moved south to build a new history together.  We were on our own to forge our own path away from former spouses, parents, siblings, everything that we feel , now, would have worked against us staying together.   We had to make new friends who were our friends; we joined a new church that was our church; we joined organizations that were our organizations and we had to stick together.  We turned a me and you, into an us.  And that is why we are married 29 years and looking forward to the next 21.

My WordPress friend posted this today.  I read this book.  I would recommend this book.

“It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of…

Source: Everyone Was Happy

The Cross is my sure salvation; the Cross I ever adore; the Cross of my Lord is with me; the Cross is my refuge.

Of the glorious Body telling,
O my tongue, its mysteries sing,
And the Blood, all price excelling,
Which the world’s eternal King,
In a noble womb once dwelling
Shed for the world’s ransoming.

Given for us, descending,
Of a Virgin to proceed,
Man with man in converse blending,
Scattered he the Gospel seed,
Till his sojourn drew to ending,
Which he closed in wondrous deed.

At the last great Supper lying
Circled by his brethren’s band,
Meekly with the law complying,
First he finished its command
Then, immortal Food supplying,
Gave himself with his own hand.

Word made Flesh, by word he maketh
Very bread his Flesh to be;
Man in wine Christ’s Blood partaketh:
And if senses fail to see,
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the mystery.

Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear.

Glory let us give, and blessing
To the Father and the Son;
Honour, might, and praise addressing,
While eternal ages run;
Ever too his love confessing,
Who, from both, with both is one.
Amen.

R. Thou hast given them bread from heaven.
V. Having within it all sweetness.

Let us pray: O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of Thy Passion: grant, we implore Thee, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of Thy Redemption. Thou who livest and reignest forever and ever.
R. Amen.

Of course, if you’d rather chant it in Latin. Here you go:

1. Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
Quem in mundi pretium
Fructus ventris generosi,
Rex effudit gentium.

2. Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine
Et in mundo conversatus,
Sparso verbi semine,
Sui moras incolatus
Miro clausit ordine.

3. In supremae nocte coenae
Recumbens cum fratribus,
Observata lege plene
Cibis in legalibus,
Cibum turbae duodenae
Se dat suis manibus

4. Verbum caro, panem verum
Verbo carnem efficit:
Fitque sanguis Christi merum,
Et si sensus deficit,
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.

5. Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

6. Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

V. Panem de caelo praestitisti eis.
R. Omne delectamentum in se habentem.

Oremus: Deus, qui nobis sub sacramento mirabili, passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti: tribue, quaesumus, ita nos corporis et sanguinis tui sacra mysteria venerari, ut redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis iugiter sentiamus. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.
R. Amen.