SAINT ELGIVA (AELFGIFU) OF SHAFTESBURY, MY 34th GREAT GRANDMOTHER, May 18

 

Saint Aelfgifu (Elgiva) of Shaftsbury

My 34th Great Grandmother

~ 

Prayer to Saint Elgiva of Shaftesbury

Saint Elgiva, who loved God and served Him with unwavering faith, we humbly ask for thy intercession.

Take under thy protection the Holy Catholic Church; defend it, and be always its consolation, its asylum, and its invincible fortress against every assault of its enemies.

 

Be our way to come to Jesus and the channel through which we receive all graces necessary for our salvation. 

We ask thee, in thy closeness to God, to intercede for us and guide us on our path. 

May thy example of faith inspire us to live a life pleasing to God. 

Through thy prayers and intercession, may we grow in holiness and become worthy of eternal life. 

Amen. 

~ 

FEAST DAY: May 18, 2025

BIRTH: About 924 in Wessex, England

DEATH: About 944 in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England

SHAFTESBURY ABBEY, DORSET, ENGLAND

As with many queens of her era who outlived her royal husband, Aelfgifu retired to Shaftesbury Abbey, where she had some connection with the place, probably through relationship to members of that community and/or benefactors. There is a theory that her mother was a resident, but this is only an educated guess on the part of experts.

My great grandmother was attributed with quite a number of miracles, specifically after her death, including a cure of blindness, which I could most certainly avail myself, so I plan to add her to my regular round of relatives to whom I appeal for intercession regarding my failing vision.

But she was also well known for great Christian behavior while alive, including considerable kindness. It is frequently mentioned that she gave donations of "costly clothing" to the poor, and this is an area of life in which I have some interest and which has impinged on my spiritual perspective.

First of all, during the the time in question, all clothing was technically "costly" since every garment was hand-made, and therefore labor intensive - including the fabric itself! But the sense that I get from it is that she didn't thrust upon the poor the rough and care-worn clothing that the poor were usually forced to wear.  This expensive clothing that she gave to the poor was, no doubt, clothing worn by what was thought of as the "upper classes" or the nobility.

CLOTHING AS A MARK OF SOCIO-ECONOMONIC STANDING

If you think about it, clothing is usually imbued with a certain amount of relative status. In the early middle ages, in particular, it was easy to see to which class one belonged, simply by looking at the clothing one wore. One's profession could usually be guessed at as well. I am assuming that in that age, as it is in THIS one, clothing that was given to the poor was serviceable but not particularly fine in quality or appearance because there is this idea that the poor do not deserve to possess anything really nice. 

DONATIONS OF CLOTHING TO THE POOR:

On this topic, I am going to hop back to present time and tell a story illustrative of the idea that clothing is only one of many methods by which we oppress poor people.

Throughout my early childhood, my mother would not allow me to have more than two dresses that were hand-me-downs from HER wardrobe because she claimed I did not "deserve" to have clothes because I was too fat. She told me I could not have new clothes of my own until I lost weight but, for the life of me, I had no idea, as a child, how I could possibly do that. Anyway, she managed not to buy me anything for myself until I was a teenager and we were finally allowed to wear jeans to school and she bought me some jeans.

This aberration of my mother's had a profound effect on me, and for my entire adult life I have had a  peculiarity when it comes to clothing. My wardrobe continues to grow bigger and bigger until I find myself with an unreasonable amount of clothes and I must divest myself. So I give most of them away. Sometimes, I have not even worn some of the items. I do this every few years.

Because I went my entire early childhood without clothes that weren't hand-me-downs from my mother, I take extremely good care of my clothes so that, even if not new, they appear to be fresh and new. When I give them away, I like the idea that, even if the person who ends up with them is homeless, no one will automatically know their socio-economic strata. The clothes will present a different image.

But I have had a very hard time finding a supposedly "charitable" organization that doesn't have volunteers that take those clothes for themselves, throwing a dollar or two into the till in exchange, so that the homeless and the truly needy never even get to SEE these nice things that I have donated.

I remember once taking an entire automobile FULL of clothes and household things to one of these thrift stores, only to go back two weeks later to find that not a single thing I had donated was in the store, on the floor. Everything was EXACTLY as I had seen it when I visited to give my donation. The place smelled of unwashed clothing and everything was very poor quality. You could see the dust on the shoulders of the blouses and jackets that hung on the carousels. I made an effort to find out what happened to all those things I donated but was unable.

My experience was the same as another person I know who told me the same story about a different thrift store whose purpose was supposedly to clad, shoe and furnish the poor with necessaries. The volunteers, all of whom had far more resources than the poor, would dismissively throw a buck or two into the kitty and then THEY would wear the beautiful clothes that I had intended to give to the poor.

In this way, these people are showing the utter disdain they have for the poor. They justify their selfishness and greed, of course, by saying to themselves that they are "helping" the poor with the dollar that they throw into the cash register. But the poor never get to make a happy purchase and proudly wear a beautiful Land's End jacket or sweater, or a Nordstrom's dress or pair of sandals. For THEM, only the dusty, old and worn-out Walmart shirt or pants made of sticky-hot plastic polyester is left for them.

I highly suspect that the car full of very nice belongings that I gave to the first organization I mentioned actually may have ended up in someone's garage sale. There was SO MUCH of it, and I can't imagine that every kitchen appliance and every shirt and dress was kept by one person.

Since those early years in this town when I had these terrible disappointments, I have worked hard to make sure that my donations of pretty clothes actually make it into the hands of the poor women for whom they are intended. I always keep my eyes peeled.  Because I know what it is like to go without clothing and to be stuck with hand-me-downs that are inappropriate and unflattering. 

I remember what it was like to have to go to school as an 11 year-old girl wearing a moss green polyester cowl-necked cocktail-length sheath dress of which my mother had tired! I know what it feels like to have other people insist that I do not deserve anything "nice." It is humiliating.

If I love my neighbor as much as I love myself, as much as I love God, I CERTAINLY want them to have the same joy as I have had just owning a decent wardrobe.

So, when I read that my 34th great grandmother gave "costly" clothing to the poor, it really thrilled me. I could relate to her in more ways that one!

WE LIVE LIKE KINGS AND QUEENS

Compared to the time of my 34th great grandmother, what they call "the early middle ages," having more than a few complete outfits would be very rare. Many of the lower classes made their own clothes, typically produced from either wool they took from sheep they raised, or linen they made from the flax plants they grew. Hemp was also used, though it produced a rougher material. (The wealthy had access to silk, but this would be a fabric the commoners would rarely have even seen with their own eyes, much less used or worn! It was reserved for the very wealthy.) 

Even in those early, rough years, there were merchants who sold fabric and garments. There were also weavers who had the larger "commercial" size looms. Serfs with some funds may have had their raw materials made into fabric at this local weaver if they did not possess the proper loom in their home.

Transformation of the raw materials was extremely labor intensive and specialized. 

After processing the raw materials, thin strands of fabric were created from the raw materials, using a spinning wheel or even by hand with a large "drop spindle," then they would take those strands and weave fabric. They would then hand sew the fabric into basic rudimentary garments, with an eye toward function of each piece. 

Clothing was one of the major investments of a family at that time. During those days, each outfit of clothing would be highly prized and meticulously cared for. When a piece was created, function was the first consideration, and even pretty embroidery was mostly used to reinforce hems or to hide worn spots. Every aspect of the garment had a purpose, even the decorative elements. 

The purchase of used clothing was common, since the items were made to be highly sturdy and long-lasting, sometimes outliving their original owners! A fine suit of clothes was like gold, but more useful.

In modern America, most of us live in a manner of the kings and queens of yesteryear, while we remain oblivious. Even those of us who are on the poor side manage to accumulate many possessions throughout our lives and we live in apartments that have heating and cooling. We even own things that are not strict necessities, and most people have at least one "treasure" such as a necklace handed down to us by a beloved relative. I often think it is too much, and I end up giving things away to someone whose income is less than mine. No matter how poor you are, there will always be someone more poor!

I would just like to say, in closing, that, in the interest of solidarity with the poor, many religious folk dedicate themselves to an extreme style of "simple" living. There is barely a picture on the wall, and all the surfaces are empty of decorations. I lived in a similar manner at various times of my life, with a mattress on the floor for a bed, and cushions in the living room instead of couches. I was physically fit at the time, and could get up and down off the floor, but more important was that I was living like a gypsy and had to keep my burdens very light because I never found a place in which I could foresee being able to afford the rent for more than just the immediate future. 

In my current apartment, I have many religious paintings on my wall, and there will be more in future because I am a painter. My apartment is a happy mess and I love it. I have lived in the same place for the last 20 years and the rent is not easy to afford, but I am disabled and my options are limited, so I remain here and I have built a life that includes many art projects that contribute to, rather than detract from, my spiritual life. Instead of seeing how plain, drab and undecorated I can live, I would rather elevate the esthetic to a spiritually beautiful appearance.  

Rather than demonstrate my solidarity with those poorer than myself (of which there are not a terribly large number) I would rather help the poor surround themselves in beauty, if they so choose.  I would like to show my love, not by living with empty walls but by helping the poor to bring loveliness to their lives so they can experience what it is like to live like little kings and queens, just as the rest of Americans tend to do.

So, if anyone in Albuquerque knows of a good charity to which I can donate some beautiful things that I can be sure will end up in the hands of those poorer than myself, instead of the "volunteers" tasked with helping them, please let me know.

In the meantime, God bless you all.  

Please pray for me, as I pray for you.

Silver Rose

SAINT MERIADOC, HERMIT AND BISHOP, A STRANGE COMBINATION

 

FEAST DAY: June 7 or the first Friday in June.

Saint Meriadoc, also sometimes Meriedoc, Meriasec or Meriadeg (Breton) feels somewhat familiar to me, as he is said to have been originally a Welsh man, and I am half Welsh. He later moved to Cornwall, and he opened several churches there, one of which, at Camborne (a town that played a significant part in my family history) is where he is the patron.

When I read about Saint Meriadoc, I think back to my 2nd great grandmother, who was born in Camborne but died in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., one of the pioneers of my family who hailed from the adjoining areas of Cornwall and Wales.  I wonder if she attended St. Meriadoc's church that is dedicated to him in Camborne, and if she had some affection for him. I wonder if she was familiar with the stories of his holy life that remain behind in the Cornish miracle play called "Beunans Meriasek" a single original copy of which, written in the "middle Cornish language and dated 1504, remains.

Saint Mariadoc desired to escape the popularity with which he was saddled at Camborne, so he moved on into Brittany. The king of that region, whose name was similar to his own, i.e., Conan Meriadoc, wanted to arrange a prestigious marriage for him, as the Saint was a wealthy man, having been born into a ducal family, but St. Meriadoc preferred the life of a destitute hermit and gave away all his wealth to needy clerics and gave his land holdings to the poor.

"Poverty is a remover of cares

and the mother of holiness"

St. Meriadoc

As a descendant of a wealthy noble family, St. Meriadoc had dressed in purple and silk, but in later years eschewed it for rags, under which he wore a hair shirt as part of his ascetical practices. He spent his time in prayer, and caring for the sick and needy.

The saint's relatives were distressed at his discarding the trappings of his entitled station in life, so they descended upon him, in the company of the Viscount of Rohan, who importuned him to take up his privileged life once more. Instead, the saint chided him that his time would be better spent eliminating the thieves and robbers of the neighborhood. The Viscount was so affected by the words of the holy man that he followed the Saint's admonishment and bore down on the local bandits, eliminating them from that region, and thereby doing a great service to the populace, who had been suffering from the constant threat of complete penury, with all their meagre possessions at risk.

Even though Meriadoc refused the status of a fine political marriage, and gave away the rich trappings of silk and gold, he was unanimously voted Bishop of Vannes, which is located in the portion of Brittany that lies in the north-western section of France, and was one of the most important cities in the country at that time. With some trepidation, he had accepted the honor, but continued his simple life of poverty and care for the poor, nonetheless.

He is said to have cured many lepers and disabled people. He drove off the vicious highwaymen of Josselin through prayer alone.

St. Meriadoc died around the year 688 and, kissing his gathered companions in religion, exclaimed, "into your hands Lord, I commend my spirit," and threw off his mortal coil.

Behind him were left many reminders of his holy years on this earth. In addition to the miracle play above mentioned, there is a holy well attributed to him at Stival, in Brittany, as well as a bell at the local church, which is purported to eliminate migraines when placed on the head of the sufferer.

He is supposed to have made a stream of water gush from a rock (and this may be how the well came to be.) Through force of will or uttered prayers, the quelling of a storm is attributed.

It seems that everywhere his feet have trod, he left behind a blessed trace of himself, and it is a good lesson to us to realize that our efforts toward holiness do not proceed in vain. Not that we WANT to be noticed, no. But we want to know that our efforts to refine our natures, develop virtue, and become holy are worth the cost.

Saint Mariadoc lived during the 7th century and was therefore part of the canon of saints prior to the split between the Catholic and the Orthodox.  He is one of the saints that we share. The Orthodox pray to him thus:

"O, Meriadoc, holy hermit, through thy simplicity thou didst draw many souls to God. Near the church of the Mother of God in Camborne, thou didst cause a healing well to rise. We glorify God who had glorified thee."

Personally, I thank you, Saint Meriadoc, for leaving such a fine example for us to follow.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

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"NOTHING PERSONAL," YOU SAY?

Mother Mary

in my little garden

When disagreements arise in modern life, I have noticed that some people are unable or refuse to put themselves into the place of the other guy, in their imagination. Because they cannot empathize, they cannot imagine why that person on the other side of the debate has an opinion so different from their own.

When engaging in a formal debate, definition of terms often forms a preliminary phase of the debate process so that everyone involved is "on the same page" and talking about the same thing, but modern Americans, set loose on the internet, are not taking advantage of this tool.

Refusing to attempt to understand the actual position of the other side, in a sympathetic light, and making assertions about what your opponents think, believe or want, has become common and is not productive of anything good. It just perpetuates the prejudices and discord.

"Nothing is sweeter than

to think well of others."

Saint Therese of Lisieux

It won't be news to you if I tell you that there is a lot of turmoil in our country right now. I believe that at least part of the cause of this is this disorganized approach to communication among us.

Most of my readers will remember that I am a Catholic convert with a Hindu (Vedantic) orientation. I was raised without any religion whatsoever and participated in many different faiths before converting to Catholicism about 14 years ago. While I believe in everything the Catholic Church believes and teaches, I have a tremendous amount of experience as a non-Christian American. I can easily speak to the point of view of non-Christians, as a result.

When having discussions with some of my Catholic brothers and sisters, I will often object to their characterizations of poor people, gay people, brown people, immigrants, disabled people, and other vulnerable groups. The reply I often get is, "oh, I am not talking about you." As a single, female, senior, divorced, disabled poor person, I fit into many categories of the most vulnerable groups and, having been raised in a non-Christian environment, I am intimately familiar with the lifestyle and beliefs of unchurched people.

But those good Catholic people ARE "talking about" me! They have erroneous, conspiracy-level beliefs about poor people, for instance. There is a huge amount of prejudice about the poor! Right wing people who identify as Christian will often immediately talk about drug addiction and criminality when discussing "the poor."

It isn't that I don't find drug addiction and criminality disturbing, because I DO. Since becoming disabled and poor, and after moving into low-income housing, I have been on the receiving end of quite a bit of the criminality of a segment of the poor. Several of my poor neighbors have stolen from me. The homeless who have encampments in the bosque next to the apartment complex have stolen things out of my garden and my patio, and have rifled through the drawers of the potting cabinet on the patio - looking for whatever might be useful, I suppose. My car has been broken into several times, with no more apparent motive than to scrabble around for change or valuables, leaving me with a broken side window and a creeping sensation of wonder that, although the car was parked right next to my apartment windows, I never heard a thing.

I've had neighbors aggressively try to "befriend" me just so they can get into my apartment and scope it out for possessions they might like to have. One woman spent months telling me I should just "give away" the bed I wasn't using instead of selling it, and then called me one morning and announced that her daughter-in-law had "cried with joy" at the news that SHE would be receiving this bed because she really needed one. I had not agreed to any such thing and was even FURTHER astonished when the neighbor told me she had arranged for a rental truck to come and get it and that it would be at my apartment within two hours! It dawned on me that the neighbor who had pursued my friendship had been "working me" for months, with the express purpose of divesting me of whatever possessions she liked, so I gave her the bed. I rightly guessed she would stop bugging me after she got what she wanted, and I was right. The woman came and took the bed and never spoke to me again.

Anyone who imagines I don't know what I'm talking about when discussing the criminality of the poor needs to take a step back and try another tack. The thing is, despite feeling really bad when someone steals from me or tries to manipulate me for profit, as in the case of the neighbor and the bed, I know that the thievery of the poor is just more obvious and personal than the thievery of the other classes. 

There is a percentage of people in all walks of life who will steal. I have an entirely middle-class sibling who, through a complex con that she worked on me over several months, managed to legally bar me from successfully fighting the theft of inheritance by my father's third wife - just so the sibling could take whatever scraps were available.

The wealthy classes steal from the poor and the middle class in a less direct and less personal way. I would make the case that theirs is the most reprehensible type of thievery because it relies upon the inability of the lower classes to protect themselves. I 

The thievery of poor people is more honorable, in one sense, because it is blatant and out in the open and in-your-face. I know what my neighbor stole from me when I hired her to clean my house. Likewise a second neighbor, the daughter of people I believed were my friends - she ALSO stole from me. I was able to speak to her directly about it.

But what can I do about the thievery of the rich who give one another tax breaks and talk about "trickle down economics" that no one believes is true because nothing has ever trickled down from these accomplished con artists? Millionaires and billionaires buy more luxury goods and properties for themselves while the rest of the people scrabble around for bread.

The fact is that there are no higher a percentage of criminals in the poor populations than there are in society in general. In fact, it may be quite a bit lower, because most poor people are poor because they're disabled or elderly. There is no more drug addiction among the poor than in society as a whole. It's just that people who are successful criminals have enough money to shield themselves from punishment. Drug addicts who are rich, famous, or have solid families have enough resources to support expensive rehab programs.

How many alcoholics do you think exist among the middle class and wealthy? Quite a lot. They can afford the booze. They can also afford to make it 'look' better. I have a relative who is an alcoholic. On the outside, it looks like she's a nice middle-class lady. She's got the trappings of respectability. But she is a terrible drunk. The packaging is just more attractive. She can afford to drink herself into oblivion inside an attractive home. She can also lie, cheat and steal under cover of apparent "respectability." You won't find HER in the gutter, slurring her words and vomiting her stomach contents onto the road. She does it behind closed doors.

This is why, when discussing the middle class or the wealthy, alcoholism is not the first thing that unkind people will talk about. It's the first thing mentioned when the topic of poor people arises, though. Why isn't it the first thing one hears when discussing the other socio-economic groups that have this problem? Americans are prejudiced against the poor in the same way the British in Dickens-era England were. Nothing has changed.

People want to justify their prejudice against the poor.

I am far from a perfect person, but I am not a drug addict. I don't drink. I'm not a criminal. Heck, I haven't had so much as a parking ticket in 44 years! I do not live on welfare. I have Social Security into which I paid for more than 30 years of constant work. I have no tattoos. I have lived as a celibate religious for almost two decades. I am nothing special because, aside from my formal religious vows of sannyas, I am very typical for a woman of my age. MOST poor people are like me. They've done the best they could with their lives, and they are struggling to make a go of it on very little income in their old age. 99.9% of us are NOT homeless people begging with big signs on the street corners, and shooting up drugs at night. They're the exception, not the rule. But even if ALL poor people were drug-addled, alcohol soaked n'er do wells, I ask you to remember that Jesus did not put any requirements upon poor people before they were entitled to the compassion of Christians.

"The poor man has one plea, his want and his standing

in need: do not require anything else from him; but even

if he is the most wicked of all men and is at a loss for

his necessary sustenance, let us free him from hunger."

St. John Chrysostom

Most of us have no help whatsoever. We receive "too much" income from Social Security, thanks to our work histories, but certainly not enough to pay for our needs. Some of us get help from our families, but an awful lot of us are not getting crucial needs met and are dying much sooner than necessary, as a result.

While it is common for most bloggers to avoid talking about themselves, I am taking the opposite stance, partly because my previous confessor taught me that my personal experiences can be used to advocate for others in my position.

"He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord,

and He will repay him for his good deed."

Proverbs 19:17

In my own way, I am fighting the prejudices and bigotry that are so endemic in the cruel America of today. I hope to be able to help that segment of American Christians who are mentioned, above, to be able to identify, even a little bit, with those who are less fortunate than they are, and with those who disagree with them politically.

Put yourselves in my shoes, my American brothers and sisters, then survey our land through my eyes and my experience. If you can do that, you may disabuse yourselves of some of your prejudices.

God bless us all.

Silver "Rose"
Sannyasini Kaliprana

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE?

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not

invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives

or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return,

and repayment come to you. But when you give a

reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame,

the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not

have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid

at the resurrection of the righteous."

~Luke 14:12-14~

Jesus told us quite clearly that He expects us to distribute his largess, but humans continue to disparage other humans and to say, directly and indirectly, that the poor are not "worth" helping, or that they aren't really poor, or that they do not deserve any assistance unless they are as poor as the poorest person in the world.

The Trump administration wants to give a black mark to any immigrant who receives assistance, so that when it comes time to decide on his application for citizenship, he will have a major hurdle to overcome. Trump has made it clear that he doesn't want to receive anyone from "shit hole countries" and he'll do almost anything to discourage them, including taking their children and incarcerating them.

"The poor man has one plea, his want and his standing

in need: do not require anything else from him; but

even if he is the most wicked of all men and is at a

loss for his necessary sustenance, let us free him from

hunger."

~ St. John Chrysostom~

The continuous message with which we are being pounded is that poor people are less than others. Poor people are criminals. Poor people are addicted to drugs. Poor people are responsible for whatever is lacking in the economies of other people.These ideas are fueled by the propaganda of scarcity. This lie is promoted by greedy people who have far more than they need. Something like 27 Americans own as much of our country's wealth as the rest of the millions of others. They spend a lot of money advertising the philosophy of scarcity and cutthroat competition. Every one of society's ills are blamed on the poor, the sick, the brown, the different.

I reject that false vision of the world.

"[Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb,

for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge

righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy."

~Proverbs 31~

What I want is for everyone's circumstances to rise to the level where we all have yummy, healthy food, safe and comfortable housing, good medical care, comprehensive education, and the joys of art and culture. No one would feel the need to have an abortion. All children would have a loving, happy family life.

Rather than demanding that our poor live as poorly as those in the poorest banana republic, I think God wants everyone to be lifted up. Instead of complaining that our poor people have cell phones, why not aspire to every poor person having a means of communication? Instead of looking down on poor people who are saddled with addiction issues, why not aspire to everyone having access to rehabilitation?

In short, my vision of the future is an egalitarian vision of love. It's God's explicit vision, as consistently revealed in the words of Christ and his saints.

"If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers,

in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your

God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor

close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall

freely open your hand to him, and generously lend

him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks."

~Deut. 15:7~

What is YOUR vision?

Silver "Rose"

DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR BLESSINGS TO THOSE LESS BLESSED THAN YOU!

Last night a church lady called me and, per usual, she unleashed a torrent of complaints about her life. She was upset about all the money she has to spend on everything she needs to address her illnesses. She has grievances about the inconvenient and expensive travel she has to undertake to care for relatives. She cataloged what each annoying expense has cost her and ranted on and on about how the insurance company will not pay for specially compounded medicines, so she has to pay for them out of pocket. She listed the cost of each. She whined about the stupidity of her husband who had never bothered to learn first aid procedures. She expressed frustration with the son who interrupted our call to get further instructions about the market run upon which she has sent him.

When I remind her that I did not have the money or physical ability to travel to see my son when he was dying several years ago, the point is lost on her.

She resumed her litany of grumblings, speaking in an unbroken stream of discontent.  She was whining about her blessings, as she does every time she calls me, and it felt like abuse on my end, and clueless ingratitude on hers.

When I could stand it no more, I forcefully stopped her again. I reminded her that she was talking to someone who doesn't have the wherewithal to make any of the expenditures about which she was complaining. She barked in a nasty way that there are people worse off than me, then, incredibly, continued to regurgitate her bile into my ear.

Initially, I was stunned by her nasty comment. I wanted to tell her that at least I had the good sense not to complain to those people in Appalachia or Nigeria who are less fortunate than me, but I was thrown off for a moment by the insensitivity of her attitude, and by the time I recovered my composure, she had already resumed vomiting out the contents of her mind.

I set down the phone and walked around the room while she blabbed unendingly. I didn't want to hang up on her, and she was not going to let me speak. I started to weave a kumihimo braid for a crochet project while she continued to gripe.

"Why not hang up on her?" you may well ask. I thought about that myself. Firstly, I have met several people through her - people I like - and I wouldn't want to cause uneasiness that would result in my losing all those friendships because of the awkwardness of a break between her and me. Secondly, although she has been clumsy in her attempts at charity toward me, foisting things on me without checking to see if I even need them, I am grateful for the inclination. A great number of Americans care nothing for their fellow man, even Christians who ought to know better. She deserves credit for being better than most. Lastly, I recognize that the woman has something wrong with her. I am not the only person subjected to this bizarre behavior pattern of hers. It isn't about me.

Even so, it is very likely that we won't have much to do with one another after our last exchange. She does not tolerate disagreement with her world view or criticism of herself.  She holds you in that vise-like grip of spew and criticizes you if you dare to struggle. I had said what none of our other friends will tell her - that she complains incessantly about her blessings. During a previous phone conversation, I had also challenged some nutty idea she was parroting out of the hard right playbook - something critical of the poor. It was a bit of prejudice, tinged with a lie, and topped off by an anecdotal story that proved nothing. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate that kind of thing. The poor have enough problems without people inventing despicable stories about them.

In closing, I will tell you what that dear lady will not allow anyone to tell her:

If the person to whom you are speaking doesn't have the money to pay for the equipment to lessen the effects of her disabilities, do not bitch about the exact amounts you have had to spend to pay for yours. You have the money to alleviate your suffering, and she does not. She isn't going to care how much you resent having to spend it. The fact that you have it at all is your good fortune.

If the person to whom you are speaking has not been lucky in love and has no husband, don't complain that your husband of 30 years isn't attentive enough to your needs and doesn't salute you when you need him to do it.

If the person to whom you are speaking has lost their child to an untimely death, don't complain that yours doesn't service your needs well enough. At least yours is alive.

If the person to whom you are speaking comes from a horrible family or no family or has lost all their family, don't drone on and on about how tedious it is to have to go visit your aged parents or in-laws who have been a constant presence in your life.

If the person to whom you are speaking is in a lower socio-economic bracket than you are, don't complain about what you spent for things that she cannot afford to buy to begin with.

Finally, if you must vent and grumble about your lot in life, complain to someone in the same or better situation than you.

God bless us all

Silver Rose

DONALD TRUMP IS NOT THE PROBLEM

Jesus blessing a poor man.

Donald Trump, though the current poster child for the hard right in America, did not invent the callous, heartless, and decidedly unChristian worldview with which we are currently fighting.

The policies of this president are met with joy by people who have been here all along but who, until now, have had limited power to realize their selfish and distorted world view.

I do not pretend to know, for certain, the origins of America's reversion to such primitive, tribal and harsh aspirations, but, when I think back to the infancy of this country, I see the seeds of it right there. Women were not allowed to vote. African Americans remained in slavery to rich landowners. Many of the founding fathers did not want to give voting privileges to anyone but landowners.

If you analyze the group of people who had all the rights in the beginning of our nation, it is the same group of people who are now trying to keep everyone but themselves from having any.

Even though I am functionally poor and cannot afford to buy the assistive devices and furnishings that I need to accommodate my disabilities, I STILL live much better than the poor souls who are trying to immigrate here from other countries, and this disparity in standards of living is a crucial part of the current debate on immigration. A large segment of the American population is selfish and doesn't want to help anyone. The character assassinations they employ to justify their selfishness give false witness, and are a scandal in themselves. A lot of it appears to be racist, but underneath the apparent racism, I think this selfishness is the primary fuel for the current hostility toward immigrants.

"Today the illegal migrant comes before 
us like that "stranger" to whom Jesus asks 
to be recognized. To welcome him and to 
show him solidarity is a duty of hospitality 
and fidelity to Christian Identity itself."

Pope Saint John Paul

Just look at the way we treat our OWN people! We have more than 40 million poor people in our country, but the hard right doesn't care about them. They dismiss us by saying that we all need to go to work, which is another lie because most poor people ARE working. The rest are disabled, elderly, or children. Less than 3% of people who receive entitlement income are able-bodied people that aren't working - and most of them are searching for work. Despite these facts, the hard right persists in pushing the lie that poor people are just lazy bums that need to go to work. I am quite sure there are some lazy bums among the poor, but there will always be a few people like that in the world.

Although there is a lot of talk about the hard right being "Christian" and following "Christian values," the only people they seem to care about are babies in the womb. They excuse Trump's brutal reign with all sorts of nonsense, supposedly because he will make abortion illegal, vis-a-vis conservative Supreme Court jurists.

While it appears that the hard right have sold their souls in exchange for one or two seats on the Supreme Court, their doing so is a pointless endeavor. Abortion will not likely become illegal, now that the flood gates have opened. It would be more effective to evangelize the heart while making survival a bit easier for moms, but, instead of taking care of people after they have been born, and establishing family-friendly economic systems that would assist families, the hard right advocates for cuts to food and shelter assistance, cuts to healthcare, cuts to the minimum wage, and a tax structure that caters to the ultra rich. They create an environment that is hostile to women, children, families and poor people, then criticize the people they impoverish when they are driven to abortion.

Since poor Americans are treated so shabbily by other Americans who have benefited in our culture to a greater degree, it is no surprise that they don't want to help immigrants from other countries, regardless of our completely immigrant past (except for the Native Americans.)

The idea of scarcity, that there are not enough resources to go around for everyone to be happy, is the biggest lie of all. There are a few men at the top of the socio-economic ladder who have nearly all the wealth of our nation. For years, our economic policies have shuttled all the wealth to the top of the ladder, while the people who actually do the work to create the wealth - the workers - are suffering with stagnating wages for more than 40 years! We have poverty in our country, not because the poor are lazy, but because the rich are filthy greedy. Those few men at the top of the ladder have enriched themselves unjustly at the expense of the common man, and they currently spend some of their ill-gotten gains to spread lies about the rest of us so that they can continue to rape our economy.

There is no scarcity. There is enough wealth in America so that all people may get a living wage and feed, house and clothe themselves, with a little extra for fun. There is enough wealth to help immigrants and refugees come into our country and become part of our economy. There is no scarcity. There is greed.

Many "religious" people think you cannot call yourself a Christian unless you are a Republican. The reason that this drives the rest of us crazy is because the hard right advocates for harsh policies that hurt the vulnerable, something that jesus would NEVER approve of.

Donald Trump didn't start this, though he is the lightning rod for all the animus that followers of Christ feel toward the policies and prejudices of the current administration. Trump is an icon of far right thought. His attacks on the press and the first amendment, his vulgarity, his commercialization of the office of the Presidency, his corrupt business practices, his objectification of and assaults on women, his constant lying, his long-term ties with Russian oligarchs and American mafia, his destruction of the offices of government by promoting people unqualified and/or devoted to their destruction, his extreme mental laziness that is demonstrated by his refusal to be properly briefed, his continually affirmed admiration for dictators and his repudiation of our allies - ALL of this makes us cringe. All of it is unChristian.

What really scares people who actually follow Christ is not Donald Trump. What really concerns us  are millions of people who think just as Trump does. Although he did not win the popular vote, Trump won enough votes to enable him to come to office through the quirks of the Electoral College.  Though Donald Trump lied about the crowds at his inauguration, his crowd is big enough to be of grave concern.

Donald Trump is not the problem. He represents the problem, and he does a good job of it.

Evangelization and some truth telling would seem to be in order.

Silver Rose 

PRAYERS NEEDED FOR THE HERMIT

Hermit in a garden

Painting by 

Hubert Robert

(1733-1808)

Since becoming disabled and, consequently, rather poor by American standards, I have been witness to and recipient of the hostile attitudes of Americans toward those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. While it has made me keenly aware of the mental suffering that is heaped upon the poor who already have quite enough in the way of difficulties in their lives, I have also been personally affected.

Although my Social Security is too high to qualify for almost all programs for the poor, I do qualify for a small discount on my rent. (Only the bottom third of poor people are eligible for government programs.) Very few properties have these programs, however, and when I moved into low income housing 14 years ago,  didn't know what I was getting into.

The onsite manager of the low-income property where I live is blatantly rude, greeting me with a pinched and ugly face whenever I try to communicate with her, and turning away from me when I try to speak. She has caused some chaos among the tenants by spreading gossip among us since she arrived here. (I became her target when I objected to her unleashed dog and its feces being left around the property and the multiple cars blocking the fire exit after she moved in.) It just escalated from there.

The manager's campaign of disinformation that was apparently calculated to draw down the ire of my neighbors on my head, has set off an apparently "sensitive" woman who now dances and chants 3 inches from my open windows. One of her performances last week had her chanting in a sing-song:

"Snippy snippy snippy

tattletale tattletale tattletale

You better not report me!"

She kept repeating this for several minutes, while she chanted into my bathroom window, as I was trying to use the facilities.

The previous manager who worked for the same management company ALSO spread rumors about the tenants. A social worker who regularly came to assess the needs of the elderly once pulled me aside and told me that the apartment manager was spreading some ridiculous lie of a sexual nature about me. The woman had a very strange imagination and, even though she knew that I had dedicated myself to God many years before that and that I had no romantic interests at all, I guess she thought it would be fun to just INVENT something. She did this all the time. She would get it into her head that something was true, despite having no knowledge of it at all, and then she'd spread a rumor.

This was the same manager who told me that poor people shouldn't ask for anything to be done in their apartments because they are getting a discount on their rent. They should just shut up and be grateful to have a roof over their heads. Other, similar comments were made. I am paying more than 30% of my income toward housing, yet I am often treated like the deadbeat friend who has been sleeping on your couch for three years.

The entrance to my imaginary hermitage

would be simple, small and inviting

For the longest time, the residents were dictated to as to when they were allowed to take a bath, wash the dishes or do the laundry. In another complex managed by the same company, the residents were told that they could not hang anything on their doors, decorative or otherwise because "poor people shouldn't expect to be able to do that kind of thing," or some such nonsense. ("No Christmas wreaths for YOU!" said Scrooge.)

All sorts of inappropriate measures of control and domination are employed against the poor, especially those who are alone, with no one to defend them. Single disabled old ladies, in particular, have learned to keep their heads down and not ask anything or complain. Most are afraid that they will be thrown out with nowhere to go.  Vacancies are few and far between in the low income housing complexes. The waiting lists are very long. There is simply not enough affordable housing. The housing that is available is in dangerous, crime ridden, traffic dense main streets, in neighborhoods that are usually "food deserts" with no grocery shopping for miles. Still - it is all there is. People who have no power cannot create decent housing out of thin air. They have to take what is available.

18th century hermitage

When I was a normal working person, I rarely had any interactions with the management of the buildings where I lived. I've lived in apartments for at least 40 years of my life, and never had any issues, except for one owner who was a drunk and who began showing up at my apartment, demanding sex. I moved out very quickly. That was an aberration. All my other experiences were pedestrian. I paid my rent. The landlords maintained the apartment. We parted amicably.

I imagined that, upon dedicating my life entirely to God, I would retire to a quaint little cottage, where all I would have to think about would be the God that I love. Having my attention diverted to unworthy topics by mean-spirited bullies is definitely not what I had in mind.

In my imagination, I live in this

"shabby chic cottage"

(with some adjustments for a prayer corner and chair!)

Recently, I read that our new head of Housing and Urban Development, Ben Carson (a retired surgeon) said that public housing should not be too comfortable, otherwise poor people will become dependent. He wants them to go to work and GET OUT.

Shortly after these comments were reported, it was discovered that he had spent $31,000.00 of taxpayer money for a dining room table, and that he intended to spend another $165,000.00 for a "lounge set." That dining room table cost nearly two years of my Social Security income, and is more than two years of a minimum wage earners take home income.

For a brain surgeon, he is an ignorant man. The vast majority of the poor are either working, have worked many years in the past, are unable to work or are CHILDREN and are not eligible to work. Fewer than 3% of the poor who receive "entitlement income" are able bodied people who are not working.

Evidently, a great number of Americans believe the same hogwash that Ben Carson and the GOP have been dishing out lately. I see it in the behavior of the management of the apartments where I live.

I also have a lot to say about the trend toward property ownership as a means of making money, rather than just having a place to live. "Flipping" properties is partially responsible for the astronomical rise in housing costs. The everyday American can no longer aspire to owning their own home, as a matter of course. A home in Boulder, Colorado that a friend's parents bought for $16,000 40 years ago, now sells for $350,000! That increase is not reflected in a proportionate increase in WAGES, however. Wages have stalled over the last 40 years, but corporate profits and CEO salaries have increased wildly.

I have spent years trying fix the issues that plague this apartment complex. First, I tried to make friends with the manager. That did not work very well. She continued to express opinions that were hostile to the poor residents, especially the elderly ones, whom she did not enjoy, and she spoke bitterly about them.

The current manager came to us from the same management company. She hit the ground nasty. Her demeanor is curt and rude, and that chip on her shoulder is quite large. (I have seen her switch modes on a dime, as it were, when an attractive man walks into the room.) With the tenants, however, she is ice.

It isn't just the tenants who are given the cold shoulder, though. Evidently, service personnel are lorded over by the woman in the front office. A delivery man was almost in tears one day after she abused him. I remember so vividly him saying, "just because she's beautiful doesn't mean she can just treat people like dirt." He was obviously feeling very stressed. He had to restrain his response, and I could tell that it was costing him some brain cells. His face was a little red. Tears were in his eyes, and I would bet his blood pressure was sky high.

In my imaginary hermitage

my kitchen window would look out onto 

a quiet and peaceful neighborhood.

Prior to becoming disabled, I was clueless about the mistreatment of the poor in American society. I never had a lot of money, but I was not on anyone's radar because I never received any services for the poor, even during periods of unemployment. I worked, paid my rent, and minded my own business.

Despite the rude treatment I have received from this manager, I have made a point to remark upon anything good that the management team did for me, and I reported it back to their boss. I think it is important to be fair to people. This was not appreciated. Instead, it was just used against me as "proof" that they never did anything wrong. It isn't anything of the sort, but dishonest people will twist themselves into a pretzel to make the facts into something that means the opposite of the truth.

Since making friends with management did not work, I began to try and get my needs met by reporting to the manager's boss, who just denied that her people had done anything I reported.

I have asked my state representative to step in, but, apparently, they couldn't do anything but forward my letter of complaint, which (after languishing for many weeks in his office) ended up in the hands of the very people who caused all the problems to begin with! Again, management just denied the truth and added some lies to spice things up a bit. They finished it off with a broad attempt at character assassination, escalating the whole mess.

Others who have lived in subsidized housing report very similar experiences of harassment, followed by gaslighting, which just feeds into the popular notion that people are poor because they are of poor character. People are poor because they don't have money.

The worst characters in the world can often be found among the wealthy, when you think about it. Many of them lack scruples, ethics and morals. No one wants to criticize the rich, however, otherwise they might not be able to get some of that lovely money with which the wealthy routinely bail themselves out of trouble when their misdeeds are found out.

In the Bible, it is made clear that the poor will see God. We have the best part of the bargain, in that case.

I imagined my hermitage might be

pink and sweet

Currently, I am in a Mexican standoff.  I have to conduct all my business with management in writing, otherwise they lie about it. A friend attended a meeting I had with the manager's boss and was as disappointed as I was about the result. The boss did nothing but deny and defend.

After 13 years, my patience has evaporated. I did my best to make this situation work, and I can only conclude that, in order to have some peace and quiet, I need to move to a market rate property in a more peaceful environment. In fact, I am amazed that I have endured this long. The Lord has blessed me with a very long fuse.

This experience has made me extremely wary of "low income housing." I can't imagine what else I will have to live without in order to pay another $200 a month in rent, which is what I estimate it will cost, but perhaps the new place will have cheaper electricity. Currently, the electricity in this apartment costs about $165.00 a month in the winter! I have often wondered if I am paying the electrical costs for someone else's apartment in addition to mine - or perhaps the exterior lights or something - but it may just be that the construction of this apartment is very drafty.

I ask for your prayers that I may find a proper space in which to pray, meditate, contemplate and get my physical needs met. My friends have been searching for a place for the last 3 or 4 years, with no luck. Let us pray that something in the right neighborhood opens up. I am hoping to be near friends who help me as well as a good church.

May God protect us all from the bullies!

Silver Rose
(c) Copyright 2018
All rights reserved.

LET'S STARVE THE POOR

I think I'm going to have a heart attack if the news continues in this vein. Every day is a fresh horror. When I read the latest sadistic method that Trump and his Nazis have devised to hurt the poor, sick, disabled, elderly and marginalized, my heart starts to race, and I seriously wonder if it is damaging my heart.

Donald Trump's new budget slashes food to the poor, ESPECIALLY to the unemployed. That's right, Donald, kick them while they are down.

Further cuts will be made by forcing people to eat what the government provides, in the form of canned food delivered in government boxes, paid for at cut rates, with no fresh fruits or vegetables. It may have calories, but anyone who has watched television for more than a few months in their life has surely absorbed enough information about a healthy diet to know that this diet would make people sick. Canned food has almost no nutrients whatsoever, and the older one gets, the less able one is to digest many things. Everyone seems to have their own special diet after age 50 or so.

I have no dog in this fight. My Social Security income is slightly too high to qualify for food stamps or any other assistance that our government is slashing right now, except perhaps for a small reduction in rent, if I were to sign up for HUD housing vouchers during the two weeks a year that they are available. I would then have to wait 3 to 5 years before getting a voucher and would have 30 days to use it or lose it.

No, I am one of those older disabled people who fall through the cracks. My illnesses create a lot of (expensive) needs, but my income falls just over the cutoff line because I worked for more than 30 years to support myself, and my Social Security is about the same as the income of someone living on minimum wage. If I was WORKING, I would qualify for food stamps and Medicaid and other programs, but because my income is (supposedly) "unearned," I don't get anything. Thank God for kind Catholic friends who help me, otherwise my survival would be in question.

Anyway, I am not hysterical with grief over Trump's hatred of the poor because he is cutting programs upon which I rely, because I don't. No. I cry every day for the poor people who are being smashed into the dirt. I cry every day at the gross, disgusting prejudice and hatred for the poor that is being cultivated by the well fed. I cry every day that these well fed people consider themselves Christian but they will surely go to Hell for participating in making the lives of the poor an abject misery.

On some level, these people must know that when they blame the poor for their conditions that they are lying and giving false witness. I have to believe that one day they will wake up and realize how cruel they have been, repent and change their ways.

In addition to prayers for the poor, which are needed now more than ever, I ask you to pray for the hard hearted, well fed, hateful Americans who take the bread out of the mouths of the poor while impugning their character at the same time.

Silver Rose Parnell
(c) copyright 2018
All rights reserved.