Monthly Archives: September 2011
STARTING TOMORROW 1 OCTOBER: The Second International 54 Day Rosary Novena for the healing of autism
… will commence on October 1 and will be completed on November 23, 2011! When I was a chaplain at the Sanctuaries of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France, for a couple of years, including the 150 jubilee 1858-2008 … Continue reading
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32 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Discernment: discovering “unknown unknowns”!
One of the criteria that the prudence of the exorcist will take into account when discerning whether or not someone is being harassed by Satan is the ability of the candidate for exorcism to discover the reality behind known unknowns … Continue reading
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Be a Good Samaritan and learn something!
Jumping a vehicle at the soup kitchen: Filling the gas tank with one of those famous milk cartons[!] and a rolled up magazine. I never would have imagined. Very cool! Um… Don’t try this at home. And don’t use newspaper!
Filed under ., Soup Kichen
Indefatigable Jenny the Jeep and progress on Holy Souls Hermitage
Last bits of the roof. Miscounted the number of sheets of plywood back some months ago. Jenny doesn’t mind. Up she went, straight up Holy Souls Mountain. No braying. Just contented that all is going well.
Filed under progress
Avionic operatives are one thing, one of the bravest pilots in the world is another, all at Holy Souls Hermitage
Rather distracted in a good and holy way this past week. Sorry for the diminished posting. One of the bravest pilots in the world was here for a week long visit. One of the staunchest, most devout Catholics I know. … Continue reading
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It rained! Worse danger on Holy Souls Mountain — Yikes!
This washout is about four feet deep. Jenny the Jeep might be able to plow through such challenges, but I wonder about lesser vehicles. I wouldn’t trade the ride for anything. The road to heaven is filled with obstacles ready … Continue reading
Filed under road
I don’t so much mind BCE and CE instead of BC and AD here at the Hermitage because…
My question is this: If the Common, that is, Universal, that is, Catholic Era begins with the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ — and that is the accepted time frame — what’s the real change of BCE … Continue reading
31 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Curses schmursches! Well, almost…
Ooooooo! Hexed objects, spells and curses offered for break-the-bank money, wrought by arrogant, spiteful occultists. And the more one says “Ooooooo!” the more money one has to pay. Of course, such a person paying all that money, and handing over the … Continue reading
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The hemlock and woolly adelgid on Holy Souls Mountain
Water hemlock is poisonous. That’s what silly Socrates drank. Mountain hemlock, a huge tree, instead makes the smoothes most lemony sweet tea you’ve ever ever had. But, they are all dying. All of them. Everywhere. It’s the woolly adelgid plague. … Continue reading
Filed under florae
More road danger on Holy Souls Mountain
The rains encouraged the ruts in the road to grow enough to grab tires and throw vehicles off into the — at this point — 100 foot deep ravine. I encourage all leaf lookers lurking for leaves to be careful!
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Looking up and down at Holy Souls Hermitage
Early this morning I saw this gargantuan planet directly above HSH. Yikes! This is best my little camera could do: Looking down… Yikes!
Books sent to Holy Souls Hermitage today!
The book to the left comes highly recommended as an into to patrology course. I think I did my patristics course some 30 years ago. Tempus fugit! Memento mori! Speaking of which, thanks to D.W., I also received the book … Continue reading
Filed under books, Holy Souls
A super cool prayer for the Holy Souls!
Fidelium animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace. Amen. May the souls of the faithful [departed] through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen. By the way, even if you’re especially thinking of just one of the faithful departed, … Continue reading
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A very pleasant memory came my way today
This picture was finally printed just a while back. Your’s truly is the third from the left. Some of those on the basketball team are now ordained priests (and are excellent priests, by the way!). The others are still seminarians … Continue reading
Filed under ., seminarians, Vocations
Chapter 5 — The Grief-Woman
The Dog-Woman post has been very popular in Asia, particularly in Vietnam and China. I originally wrote that chapter of the book for my parish bulletin in Australia. I started to pay special attention to the passage when I was … Continue reading
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30 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Fortune telling and Ouija boards: ideomotor or idiotmotor? A note on the vulnerability of cynical skeptics of religion
What I say in this post about Ouija boards by way of anecdote is analogously applicable to fortune tellers of all sorts, those who work with cards, crystal balls, who are chiromancers, tea-leaf readers, or whatever. There are plenty of … Continue reading
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A trip much higher up the mountain: submitting to the devil’s courthouse
Didn’t have my “camera” with me, so I used my zero resolution phone camera, taking pictures of the cheap phone screen since I’m too penny pinching at the moment to spend the money to send them to myself over the … Continue reading
Filed under florae
HSH flowers for the Immaculate Conception
For our Lady… I’ve not seen moss flowering away like this. Pretty cool… It must be called zillionpede moss. Dunno!
29 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Choose utterly boring assistants
There are certain things that are dead giveaways about what a person is like. For instance, if a priest speaks frequently about the joy he has in going to confession, and encourages others to go to confession, relating how he … Continue reading
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Sunshine, finally, on Holy Souls Moutain
Rain, mist, darkness, cold… But then: s u n s h i n e !
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Beasts of Holy Souls Hermitage — Forest Slug
He’s hiding his eyes right now. Kind of like burying one head in the sand. I wonder if slugs are related to ostriches… Saint Teresa of Avila said that it was good to make analogies of the physical world with … Continue reading
Filed under faunae
Progress at Holy Souls Hermitage
“My hammer is called lightning, because it never strikes in the same place twice.” Sigh.
Filed under progress
Fall colors on Holy Souls Mountain
Lots of colors here. The more you look, the more spectacular they are. A quiet array. That’s also beautiful, no?
Filed under florae
Getting readier for the chickens!
Tacked up just a bit of chicken-wire and a door the other day… Got some straw for the nest boxes, along with 50 pounds of feed in 10 gallon bucket with a lockable lid (handy for competing critters)… Here are … Continue reading
28 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – psychology / psychiatry and skeptics!
In my younger days, I was a chaplain at the Hudson River Psychiatric Center, a more politically correct name than the one from which it was changed: The New York State Insane Asylum. I think this is where Rose Marie Kennedy (R.I.P.) had … Continue reading
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Florae, well, lichens of Holy Souls Mountain! Yikes! Rare and beautiful and mysterious!
All these lichens were within one foot of each other on the same healthy tree… Yikes! Don’t stand still or you’ll have lichens growing on you!
Filed under florae
Florae, well, mushrooms of Holy Souls Mountain
This set of mushrooms measures about 3 feet wide by 4 feet long: Don’t know what kind it is, but the bit on the stem makes me think these are poisonous: Months ago there was about 25 pounds of shelf … Continue reading
Filed under florae
27 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Genealogical trees are not possessed! UPDATE
UPDATE: A reader emailed to mention the provenance of the healing of the family tree thing. A priest, along with the name of his book, was named, along with a lay evangelist. This may be it, since the revised edition of the book came out more … Continue reading
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26 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Genealogical trees are not possessed! and a note about purgatory
I was once in a parish where people would introduce themselves to me by reciting pretty much their entire family tree. Visiting cemeteries to look for relatives, paying others to do research, going so far as to do DNA detective … Continue reading
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25 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – Is an exorcism in Latin more powerful?
The Latin language was the vulgar language of Rome, used by scholar, orator, prostitute and the apocalyptic beast. The Roman Church wanted to use the common, vulgar language, making this the sacred language of the Church, that is, the language … Continue reading
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Faunae of Holy Souls Hermitage: Great North American Hornet
Looks like the stinger, fully extended, would go in about 1/4 inch. It’s said that a sting from one of the these guys is worse than many stings of anything else because of their size and the amount of venom … Continue reading
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Faunae, that is, more predators of Holy Souls Mountain
When you live in the most bio-diverse site in the world outside of one island of the Hawaiian islands, you have to expect all the drama of nature to be played out. Here’s a yellow-jacket eating the heart out of … Continue reading
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Bracing progress on the Hermitage on Holy Souls Mountain
When I climbed up to do a bit more of the roof, there were some pretty frightening creaks and groans. Time for some braces. Both cables/turnbuckles and carriage-bolted X-braces.
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Florae, well, changing leaves of Holy Souls Mountain
If anyone shouldn’t die, I shouldn’t, because, look at my glorious raiment, my colors giving pleasure to God and man! Soon, Fall comes. It’s called Fall for a reason!
Filed under florae
24 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Hermitage – No dead person causes trouble
Three panels: To the right, in the perspective of the Divine Judge in the center top: heaven. To the left, in the perspective of the Divine Judge in the center: hell. Not much purgatory going on here for a painting … Continue reading
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Faunae, that is, beasts of Holy Souls Mountain
When I was kid (some might say I still am), I used to feed chipmunks by hand. Don’t try that at home. They bite! This fellow, however, is very placid indeed. In the original English usage, chipmunk was chipMONK. Monks, … Continue reading
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Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. I pray for benefactors daily, offering Holy Mass for their intentions about once a month. You'll have to force me to take your donations, though. Scroll down for an explanation.
