Amazing World: Back to Eden Documentary

Seriously this is worth watching. It is very inspiring. This has to be the most inspiring garden documentary ever. The main character Paul Gautschi is fascinating. It is a revolutionary way to garden and a step forward in environmental responsibility.

We have an earth problem in farming, the land is depleted of trace minerals and over chemicalized. 

"Back to Eden" is a documentary about American gardener and arborist Paul Gautschi that ignited the global gardening movement "Back to Eden Gardening."

Paul pioneered a no-dig gardening technique that implements wood chips in a vegetable garden and orchard to conserve water and regenerate soil that is capable of producing nutrient-rich food.

Back to Eden Gardening is a regenerative agriculture method since it rebuilds soil and restores soil biodiversity resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle.

Back to Eden Gardening implements organic gardening principles and is considered one of the best sustainable permaculture methods for growing food. Watch BACK TO EDEN film streaming for free to learn how to grow your own food with less work! 

Christian Courage: Song of Bernadette

 I am not a fan of many religious films. I just don't think the quality is usually very good. But this one, about St. Bernadette is pretty good, although dated in style. Jennifer Jones won the Academy Award for this role in 1944.

 

St. Bernadette was a simple girl who had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The spot of the vision, Lourdes, has become a pilgrimage site. It is the most famous place for medical miracles. There is a hospital on the grounds staffed by doctors to examine any miracle claims. There have been some amazing miracles.

One was a woman Madame Bire in 1908 came there, blind because her optic nerve was withered; she regained her sight when the Blessed Sacrament passed. But when the Doctors inspected her eyes, they found she was able to see, even though the nerve was still withered-- to add to miracle, the nerve did recover within a few weeks. (cf. A PROTESTANT LOOKS AT LOURDES, By Ruth Cranston)

 

St. Bernadette's body remains incorrupt. It has not undergone decay.

faith formation: What is Love? Love is Patient-- post 1

Love is the goal of life--to love God and our neighbor. 

St. Paul defined it as we Christians should understand it. 

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury. Love does not rejoice over wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

 

Let’s examine each point

faith formation: St. John Paul II’s Message to Women Who Have Had An Abortion - Fr. Mark Goring, CC

 

faith formation: Pride and Duty

The devil tempts us by three main methods: Pleasure, Honor, and Power. Pride is part of all three. He focuses on our main weakness, which is sinful-pride. Other languages  have one word for sinful-pride and another for good-pride, but not in common conversational English. (We could call good-pride “magnanimity” and sinful-pride “hubris”; but we will stick to common language for now). 

In English we  tend to use the same words often with different meanings, depending on the context. Good-pride is the pride you have for your loved ones succeeding, one's country, or culture. It is “other minded” or “group minded.” But even these can become sinful, when brought to excess.

faith formation: Do the Opposite--"AGERE CONTRA"-- Spirituality 101; Fr. Mark Goring

 Here Fr. Goring explains a principle in the spiritual life of "AGERE CONTRA"--"To act against". A term in ascetical literature to describe the deliberate effort one must make to strive to overcome his evil tendencies, by doing the opposite of that to which he is sinfully inclined.

Amazing World: The incredible ibex defies gravity and climbs a dam

 Nature is so full of curious wonders. These mountain goats can scale a share cliff of a mountain dam.