Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

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Today is the feast day of Saint Francis,  He is known as the patron saint of animals, birds, and the environment.  Perhaps the first saint to receive the Stigmata, he is amongst the first of the Christian mystics and his way of love and peace has much to offer us today.

from Wikipedia's article on the good saint:
QUOTE    Francis's attitude towards the natural world, while poetically expressed, was conventionally Christian. He believed that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as creatures ourselves.

Legend has it that St Francis on his deathbed thanked his donkey at his bedside for carrying and helping him throughout his life, and his donkey wept. UNQUOTE

• 3 Saturday 8:00 p.m.
  American Musicological Society Annual Meeting
  Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste
  480, rue St-Jean, Québec City, Québec, CANADA
  Battling the Serpent: The Caput and L'homme armé Traditions in Music
  Click to see program
  Click to see poster

• 9 Sunday 8:00 p.m.
  10 Monday 8:00 p.m.
  Dumbarton Oaks
  1703 32nd Street, N.W.
  Washington, DC
  Creator of the Stars: Christmas Music from the Old World
  Click to see program
  Click to see poster
  

Wrote Joseph Sobran last June 21st in The Wanderer: "Is it possible? Behold, there are signs that Ron Paul is now gaining support. All his many virtues make him a misfit in the Republican Party, which would love to be rid of him: He shames it by quietly and steadfastly practicing the principles it preaches.

"Over the years he has made enemies of George W. Bush and Newt Gingrich; and he is a truer conservative than Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan ever were.

"This thoughtful, unassuming man has a rare ability to get under people's skin without trying to. The anger his gentle consistency provokes is something to behold; it's not the Democrats who detest him, it's the Republicans! He is, in spite of himself, a walking rebuke to hypocrisy.

"By rights Paul should be the hero of a Molière comedy, or a Frank Capra film. Politics is mostly hypocrisy, and the man of simple good faith can be a disruptive force, like the driver who observes the speed limit when all the others are flooring it."
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He totally mystifies and ticks off the establishment, but his support among real people is growing daily. A dark horse?