Monday of the 10th week in ordinary time

May the Lord bless you and fill your heart with Peace and Joy.
This computer has been going off and on during the past two months due to the small generator biting the dust. I just barely managed to put the readings on line using the laptop battery which must be charged each day. Since there is no electricity in the village it is difficult to get a charge.

The saddest news was that my dear and loving brother Jackie died about 3 weeks ago. Jackie had always been my 'hero' big brother. It is hard to imagine him not sending e-mail or me not sharing what the Lord is doing at Nazareth. Please pray for my sister in Law, Bettye...and two sons, Steven and James. This has been real hard on the three of them especially since they lost two of their siblings recently. Now Jackie is gone and they need some real emotional support. Owing to my vow of Poverty I was unable to travel from Gambia to Texas and back. The priests and sisters in this diocese have all been offering Masses and praying for Jackie and the family. Bishop Ellison was especially kind and sent a sympathy card from the entire diocese.

I know I left off while I was begging and we are still needing funds to buy Medicines. Since the beginning of the week I have had to send many folks away due to our lack of drugs. You can really help by sending your donations in care of:
Mr. Robert Shrigley
339 Monarch Drive
Houma, Louisiana, 63368

We had a 'warning' rain at the beginning of this week which means that the full rains will be here real soon. With the rains come the 'suu suu lah' (Mosquito's) and with the 'suu suu lah' comes malaria.
I definitely need to get the more malaria meds so we do not run out. When folks come to Nazareth with malaria it is too late to tell them to go to the clinic to get meds. They don't have money to buy the Medicines, are too poor to pay for a private clinic and when they are sick with malaria they can barely move let alone walk. Some folks just walk into Nazareth and lie down in the driveway because they just can't make it any further. Some arrive on donkey carts and need help right away. Last year one donkey cart came to the gate with 6 people with Malaria.
I beg you to please help!
My love and prayers

Br. dismas Mary
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The letter of St Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans

Let me not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one

Saint Ignatius You have never begrudged the martyrs their triumph but rather trained them for it. And so I am asking you to be consistent with the lessons you teach them. Just beg for me the courage and endurance not only to speak but also to will what is right, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one. For if I prove myself to be a Christian by martyrdom, then people will call me one, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more. Nothing you can see is truly good. For our Lord Jesus Christ, now that he has returned to his Father, has revealed himself more clearly. Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world.   I am writing to all the churches to declare to them all that I am glad to die for God, provided you do not hinder me. I beg you not to show me a misplaced kindness. Let me be the food of beasts that I may come to God. I am his wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become Christ’s pure bread.   I would rather that you coaxed the beasts to become my tomb and to leave no scrap of me behind; then when I have died I will be a burden to no one. I shall be a true disciple of Christ when the world no longer sees my body. Pray to Christ for me that by these means I may become a sacrifice to God. I do not give you orders like Peter and Paul. They were apostles, I am a condemned criminal; they were free, I am still a slave. But if I suffer, I shall become the freedman of Jesus Christ and I shall rise again to freedom in him.   Now as a prisoner I am learning to give up my own wishes. All the way from Syria to Rome I am fighting wild beasts, by land and by sea, by day and by night, chained as I am to ten leopards, I mean the detachment of soldiers who guard me; the better you treat them, the worse they become. I am more and more trained in discipleship by their ill usage of me, but I am not therefore justified. How happy I will be with the beasts which are prepared for me! I hope that they will make short work of me. I shall even coax them to devour me quickly and not to be afraid of touching me, as sometimes happens; in fact, if they hold back, I shall force them to it. Bear with me, for I know what is good for me. Now I am beginning to be a disciple. May nothing visible or invisible rob me of my prize, which is Jesus Christ! The fire, the cross, packs of wild beasts, lacerations, rendings, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of the whole body, the horrible tortures of the devil – let all these things come upon me, if only I may gain Jesus Christ!