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For the first time in human history the scientist-saint Swamy Ramalinga Vallalar has given us a complete science of immortality and eternity in scientific terms in all its details.
In the 1860s Charles Darwin published his "Theory of Evolution". But when the American professor Chancey Wright asked him,what would be the next stage in human evolution? He replied that he did not know. But Swamy Ramalinga Vallalar answered that question positively. Not only the next stage in Human Evolution but the final stage was also conducted his experiment in his own body successfully and realized histeachings. He transformed his physical body into a body of wisdom-light. The details are given in these lectures
delivered by
Thiru.R.Kuppusamy.
Salem Th.Kuppusamy Sir Contact Details:(India)
Email : r.kuppusamy@gmail.com
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*Other features covered in these lectures are :*
- Can Humans eradicate the problem of world poverty and hunger?
- The enlightenment of the human body as well as the enlightenment
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- The intelligence born of love as contrasted with that born ofthought which
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- Can humans ever succeed in attaining total self-sufficiency in termsof
food, breath and knowledge independently of nature?
Arut Perum Jyothi Arut Perum Jyothi
Thanip Perum Karunai Arut Perum Jyothi
GRACE-LIGHT MANTRA (Mantra for ascension - to invoke grace, light and compassion)
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In reply to your treatment of Family. One of your own. Get her before anyone else does.
Taken at Crack Den - Street / Urban Roleplay, Hathian (239, 231, 34)
Photographer:- Tim Large
Location:- Kennedy Space center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA
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Karin and I were on a downtown San Diego sidewalk photographing buildings when a security guard approached us and asked what we were doing. Karin replied that we were simply making photographic studies in architecture. Apparently not satisfied with this response, Mr. Security Guard then asked for our identification and wanted to know "who we were with." It was at that point that things became a bit heated.
If this ever happens to you, I suggest that you keep a copy of this .pdf in your kit bag and just simply hand it over to the loser who's stepping on your rights:
www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf
Because of this unfortunate confrontation, I thought the turbulent sky to be...appropriate.
One of the themes for the 2021 Thunder Over Michigan airshow was “Mitchell Madness”. The organizers tried to bring together a number of World War II-era North American B-25 Mitchell bombers. I saw 12 at the performance I attended.
The North American B-25 “Mitchell” was a versatile medium bomber, used by many countries during and after World War II. It was the only type of aircraft to complete bombing missions in all theaters of the war. More than 10,000 were built.
This particular aircraft, “Rosie’s Reply” (N3774), is a combat veteran, having flown eight combat missions during April and May, 1944. According to b-25history.org, this is just one of three surviving B-25s that have flown combat missions. Warbird News also stated in 2013 that this was the only B-25D flying at that time.
The Yankee Air Museum, the organizer of the airshow, owns and operates Rosie’s Reply. Previously the aircraft was named “Yankee Warrior.” In 2021 the Museum changed the name to honor the “amazing women who came together to help win a war while shaping the future of women in the work place.” The Museum also repainted the aircraft with the livery and markings it wore around 1943.
North American Aviation built this B-25D-35-NC in Kansas City, Kansas in 1943. She was assigned to the 12th AF 57th Bomb Wing, 340th Bomber Group and based in Corsica during April and May, 1944. Later that year, she was transferred to the Royal Air Force and assigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force to support training. After a variety of roles with the RCAF, she was sold to a private owner in 1962. After a series of owners, the aircraft was sold to the Yankee Air Force in 1988.
Seen at the 2021 Thunder Over Michigan Airshow, sponsored by the Yankee Air Museum.
Seeing if I can fit a bit more information in the replies, as there weren't any avatars or dates as to when they were made. Does this work or is it getting too crowded?
Heilà.
Brava.
Come da patto, ti ho salutato ScemHesiam, il quale ringrazia e mi ha chiesto la tua mail.
Non aspettarti mail da quell’idiota, non sa neanche come si accende un pc.
E non ricordarmi che quello stronzo ha posato gli occhi su Yume. Quanto mi fa girare i coglioni.
Hmp, se vuoi una seratina “movimentata” se ne può anche parlare. Non che mi manchi la compagnia, ma cambiare ogni tanto fa solo bene. Magari vieni a trovarmi al Sethi, così mi senti anche suonare.
Il lavoro procede, qualche intoppo con un paio di stronzi ubriachi giù al locale (e credo che sia stato uno di loro a rigarmi la macchina porc@ %&@#*) e altri stronzi che vengono al locale giusto per far rissa, ma per il resto va bene. Sono aumentate anche le fans, per fortuna e per sfiga. Alcune sono proprio una rottura di coglioni.
Tu? Oltre a reggere il moccolo ai due piccioncini?
Ti lascio che il lavoro mi aspetta.
See ya ~
Kira
------------------------------------------------------
Wei Kana!
Quant’è vero, c****o. Andasse un po’ affanculo quel ca*zo di tiraminchiate di Cupido. Ci fa solo sclerare.
Ahahaha ti stimo! Chissà come ti sei divertito ! Qui purtroppo le professoresse hanno si e no tutte un piede nella fossa. Un liceo di vecchie mummie, a partire da quella rompicoglioni della preside. Quest’anno ci ha pure cancellato il concerto di inizio scuola, solo dio sa cosa mi ha trattenuto dall’ammazzarla.
Comunque, tornando al discorso di prima, di sto passo finisce che lo appendo al chiodo. Ultimamente mi va male anche con le groupie che bazzicano nel backstage, che oddio, sanno il fatto loro, ma sono io che ho la testa da tutt’altra parte.
Rinnovo il vaffanculo a Cupido per questo.
Ahahahaha siete dei grandi! Noi per fortuna non abbiamo ancora di questi problemi, siamo solo un giovane gruppo di sfigati che si ritrova al solito locale. Certo, vedersela poi col gestore sono caz*zi… anche perché poi sono io che mi prendo il cazziatone.
Non mi ricordare la macchina va. Se lo becco altro che usarlo come donnina Hula. E come se non bastasse, giusto per farmi girare ulteriormente i coglioni, un gruppo di stronzi si è rifatto vivo al locale. Era da un paio di mesi che si erano levati dai coglioni ma a quanto pare sono duri a morire. Venivano giù giusto per far casino e rissa. Ho perso il conto di quante volte ci siamo malmenati. Ma ora hanno anche cambiato capo, ora si fanno comandare a bacchetta da un certo Cathan.
Vedremo… ovviamente se provano a far di nuovo danni al Sethi non mi tratterrò dall’insegnargli la buona educazione.
Minch*a che sfiga. Speriamo che la cosa si risolva molto più velocemente.
Tour è una parolona. Come ho detto prima siamo solo un gruppo di sfigati, non siam ancora ai vostri livelli ;)! Quest’estate (come le tutte) prenderemo parte a una serie di concerti che si svolgono sulla spiaggia qui da noi.
Mi piacerebbe farmi un giretto ad Amsterdam, ma dubito di riuscirci. Se ne parla l’anno prossimo, sperando di finire sta merda di liceo. Però per intanto ci prepariamo a una serie di concerti per quest’inverno, dove ci sarà anche una specie di gara tra giovani band.
Divertitevi e dacci dentro con le autoctone anche per noi ;D!
Mo' me ne vado a lavoro, sperando che quei coglioni non decidano di farsi vedere. (Anche se non mi dispiacerebbe sgranchire le mani.)
See ya~
Kira
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This is the second article in the article series Prevent to the option of Reply All.
In the current article, we will review an additional method for preventing to the option of – Reply All.
The method which we use this time is built around a concept in which we send the E-mail message to...
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I wish you well in whatever way is most appropriate for you but cannot take on the extra work of writing it to you individually. Thank you for your good wishes and to those who have made me their contact. Due to long term health and eye problems I regret I can't take on any new contacts but nearly always manage to reply to your comments. Please no more than 1 invite.
Young woman with her smart phone
Photographer:- Tim Large
Location:- Cribbs Causeway Mall, Bristol, England.
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See the portfolio of Stock photography by Timothy Large at Alamy
©TimothyLarge - TA Craft Photography
Business Reply Mail Art is my new project where I utilize all the free postage companies give out. Using acrylic paint, markers, pencils, pens and robots I cover the non-postage side with an artwork and send it back to the magazine/business that paid for the postage.
Una was dying to give Poopie a smooch, but she replied that she doesn't go both ways..kitty love only!
(Una looks so hilarious with her ridiculous cardboard cone on!!)
Relic under my family custody
More miraculous stories in the life of Saint Padre Pio
(This article is a continuation of miraculous stories in the life of St Padre Pio. Part 1 which is entitled "Little known stories in the life of St Padre Pio" can be found here.
I would like to sincerely thank Brother Michael of the Cross and also Thomas Warner M.D. for transcribing these stories. -Webmaster)
The cure of Gaspare di Prazzo, Cianciana, Agrigento
Mr. Gaspare di Prazzo had a case of Mediterranean Fever which had become very serious. A woman, Signora Vacarro, knew of Padre Pio and recommended the patient invoke Padre Pio's help for a cure and Signora Vacarro gave Gaspare a picture of Padre Pio to use while invoking his intercession. Upon receiving the photo, the patient kissed the photograph of Padre Pio and begged him to cure him.
A few days passed when one evening at 6pm the patient said to his wife: "Put someone at the door and don't let anyone in, because Padre Pio is coming, and I don't want to be seen by anyone.'
The wife nodded assent and assured him that their nephew was already near the door.
Later that night, at eleven o'clock, when all were in bed and only his wife was sitting up by the patient's bedside, and the patient had a significant fever he said to his wife: 'Put out the light because Padre Pio is about to come, and I don't want to be seen by anyone, not even by you.'
His wife obeyed and put out the light. All of a sudden the patient began to speak, very joyfully: "Oh! Padre Pio, are you here to heal me? I thank you. Pass your hand from my head to my feet. I cannot go on anymore and I do not want to leave my wife a widow...'
The patient felt Padre Pio near his bed. He passed his stigmatized hand over all his body. His wife saw nobody, but understood that Padre Pio was beside her beloved spouse, and trembling in a corner of the room on her knees, weeping she also prayed to Padre Pio: ' As you have come, Padre Pio, ask Our Lord for the grace of my husband's cure.'
After a few minutes, the wife asked her husband if she could put on the light, and the patient replied: 'No, because Padre Pio has not gone out yet, he is still by my bedside.'
Another ten minutes passed, then the husband told his wife to put on the light, because Padre Pio was gone. After putting on the light, his sister and Dr. Giannone came around the bed of the patient, whose eyes were shining, and who was emitting deep sighs. He said he felt better, and then told them the following:
"A little while ago I found myself in a beautiful church, where Padre Pio was celebrating Mass, and I was on my knees . I saw the Holy Ghost in the beautiful form of a dove above the altar. After Mass, I drew closer to him, and he said to me: 'Have faith in God. But you must go to confession and you must not swear any more.' Being thirsty, I asked Padre Pio for water, and he accompanied me to a cistern. I filled a bottle with lovely fresh water; groaning with pain I drank it in one draught, burning with fever. As soon as I had drunk the water I smelt perfume which resembled the smell of vanilla. Then Padre Pio went away."
After this account the patient repeated that he felt better. The cousin,a medical physician, examined him an noted a very significant change: the fever had already diminished, and by the next morning he was without any, and the fever never returned. Early that next morning Signora Vacarro went to visit him - the reader will recall that it was she who lent him the photograph of Padre Pio - and joyfully upon seeing him she said:
"The grace has been given! I dreamt of Padre Pio last night and he said to me: 'The grace has been given.'"
-and truly the grace had been obtained, for a few days afterwards the patient got up cured and went to church to thank Our Lord. Later he had a solemn day of the Blessed Eucharist celebrated in the Church of the Liguorini, where he confessed and received Holy Communion, after having been away from the Sacraments for ten years. From then on Signor Piazzi has never swore again and he is very grateful to Padre Pio, whose photograph he always carries about with him."
Cure of a diabetic through a vision of Padre Pio
On Corpus Christi, June 20, 1946, at about 6pm a nun named Lucia was suffering from severe diabetes and because of this was impelled to drank quarts of water for relief. Suddenly however she no longer felt the need to drink water and she called the Mother Superior. She said she must now go to the chapel to pray.
Nevertheless, the Mother Superior asked the sister to bring along a glass of water. The Mother Superior had a presentiment that it was the beginning of the end. Lucia told her with a happy smille: "I will die soon, Mother, Padre Pio came to see me. He was just like picture on the bureau. He said I could not be cured (i.e. by the doctors). But he also told me to hope, and to have faith in the help of Heaven.
Evidently, from the succession of events we will read below, Lucia has initially misunderstood Padre Pio. Two sisters assisted her to the chapel. She did not ask for water, and even refused when offered the glass that had been taken along. It was now already a quarter of an hour since she had taken anything to drink. After finishing her prayers she was brought back to her little room as it appeared that she was fainting. The chaplain was called and a drinking tube was put into her mouth, but she immediately pushed it away. Suddenly she opened her eyes with a strange smile on her lips. She sat up in her bed and gesticulated joyously, saying Padre Pio had just told her in the name of God: "You are cured. Get up! Come immediately to my monastery. I want to bless you and thank the Almighty with you." Lucia went to the monastery with two of the sisters on June 17. When they appeared before Padre Pio, he said with a smile: "I was waiting for you," and he blessed her.
__________________
A spiritual grace, Porto Maurizio, September 11, 1940
A gentleman from Porto Maurizio writes:
"No matter how much I say with regard to the graces received through Padre Pio, I could not say enough, for he procured me a great number, and continued to do so. When I saw Padre Pio for the first time, it seemed to me like a dream, and my heart leapt for joy.
"I assisted at the Mass he celebrated with saintly ardor. I was also fortunate enough to see him at close range, for I was kneeling at the side of the altar; large drops of tears fell from his eyes ... in that instant I repented of my sins and implored forgiveness for myself and for all mankind. At the Consecration, I was doubly wrapped in prayer, and at the Elevation of the Host I looked up with faith, and to my astonishment it appeared radiant and beautiful. I said nothing about it to anyone that day, but the following day I went to the confessional of the Padre and I said, 'Father,the Host consecrated by you does not look the same as the others.' 'What,' he said, 'is there something special about mine?' 'Yes, I replied, 'the Host of every other priest looks ordinary, and there is a crucifix in the center, while yours appears beautiful and radiant.' he did not reply, so I continued, "Tell me Father, is this so, or is it an illusion?' Entering into a state of recollection within himself, he replied with gravity, 'What you saw in fact was true.'
________________
Padre Pio predicts a boy to a childless couple, and later baptizes the baby under miraculous circumstances
A couple from Genoa visited Padre Pio to tell him they had no children. "Bring him to me to be baptized when he is born," was his answer. He could often foretell the sex of an unborn child.
The following year the fortunate couple returned to the monastery Church with their new baby boy, but in the Church of Our Lady of Graces there was such a large crowd that it was impossible to reach Padre Pio who was hearing confessions and then reciting the evening prayers . The mother remained in the parish house of San Giovanni Rotundo one mile away, whilst the father went to the monastery to talk to Padre Pio's fellow priests, telling them that Padre Pio had invited them to come there and that they were to meet with him; hoping to try to arrange a meeting with him in the next few days. Since by then it was getting quite late, he was told to come back in the morning. So, he returned to his wife at the parish house and when he arrived his wife informed him that Padre Pio had come to baptise the baby earlier in the evening. "But how is that possible!" he replied, because at the time specified Padre Pio was without a doubt in the Church reciting the evening prayers and hearing confessions of the many people assembled there.
_________________
A woman is revived from a coma
On July 20, 1921, a Monsignor D'Indico of Florence, whom this author [Fr. Charles Carty] met in 1923 when studying theology at the Archbishop's Seminary in Florence, was alone in his study. He felt the sensation of having someone at his back. He turned and saw a monk, who disappeared. He left his room to tell a chaplain what happened. The chaplain thought it was mere hallucination due to his state of anxiety over his sister, who was very ill. He invited him to take a short walk for mental distraction. When they returned they went to see his sister in her sick room. His sister, who a little before had been in state of coma, at the same hour when her brother felt the sensation of being in the presence of Padre Pio, told how she had seen a monk enter her room who approached her and said : "Don't be afraid; tomorrow your fever will disappear, and after a few days there will be no trace of your illness in your body." But, Padre, she answered, "are you then a saint?" "No, I am simply a creature who serves the Lord through His mercies."
"Let me kiss your habit, Padre."
"Kiss the sign of the Passion," and he showed his hands transfixed and bleeding.
"Padre, I recommend to you my husband and child."
"Pray, pray that you will be good, and be assured that your child will be under my protection," and blessing her, he vanished.
She immediately got better and in eight days was entirely cured.
____________________
Fr. Antonio narrates that during the war in Africa an Italian soldier was standing behind a large rock, while a fierce battle was going on. Suddenly a monk stood beside him and pulled him gently by the sleeve, saying he should get out form behind the rock. The soldier did not want to leave what he thought was a safe place. The monk pulled a second time, and was more emphatic. he did not move. Then the monk pulled him out by force. Right after that the entire place where the soldier had been standing blew up. The monk disappeared. Some days after as he was relating this to a fellow soldier, the companion showed him a picture of Padre Pio which he always carried with him. The soldier whose life had been saved exclaimed: "Why, that is definitely the monk who saved my life!"
Prior to this he had never seen Padre Pio or heard of him before.
_____________________
The Church approved miracle for the canonisation of Padre Pio
January 20th , 2000, was a regular school day for seven years old Matteo Pio Colella of San Giovanni Rotondo until he started to shiver and develop a fever. He was brought home weak and vomiting. That he evening he was progressively worse with the development of bleeding into and necrosis of his skin. In the modern hospital of San Giovanni Rotondo (Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza ) he was found to have clots in his blood vessels, signs of kidney and liver failure and hyperacute meningitis with septicaemia : an extremely serious condition, which by next morning, had rapidly affected all organ systems with septic shock, respiratory failure, cyanosis, a heart rate of 20 , dilated pupils and cardiac arrest. Despite therapy, the prognosis for survival was hopeless. Meanwhile, prayers for his recovery were being offered by many through the intercession of Padre Pio. By mid-day, despite the most morbid prognostication, he showed signs of improvement. Even with a persistent lung problem he made great progress within ten days. In a few weeks recovery was complete.
The mortality from his illness ---fulminant meningitis with acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ (nine organ systems) failure ---- is 100 percent. His recovery was medically inexplicable and was declared a miracle by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in the presence of Pope John Paul II.
An unusual visitor
While asleep, Matteo said that he was unable to pray to Padre Pio but started to do so, on awakening. “As soon as I awoke, I put out my hand searching for another hand saying: I want Padre Pio “. However during his ‘sleep’ he was not alone but was visited by an old man with a white beard and a long brown garment. This man, smiling, gave him his hand and said “Matteo don’t be worried you will soon be healed “. Beside this man he saw three angels, one dressed in white with green wings and two in red with white wings; their faces were not clear because of their brilliance. Another day afterwards, he told his uncle Giovanni that the very night he was healed there was a child with green eyes and black hair, lying rigid, on a little bed in a hospital in Rome. Subsequently he related the dream to his mother who asked: “How did you get to Rome? “. Matteo told her that he made a kind of flight with Padre Pio who held him by the hand and who spoke to him interiorly; when they arrived Padre Pio asked: “Do you want to be healed ? And Matteo replied “How will that happen? “ “Will it with prayer”.
Then his mother asked: “How did you know you were in Rome? “ Matteo recognized Luna Park ( a theme park ) which he had visited with uncle Giovanni! In conclusion, Matteo said “I was healed by Padre Pio“
Matteo was present in Saint Peter’s Square for the canonization of Padre Pio (June 16th, 2002 ) and at this Mass he made his First Holy Communion. Incidentally, Matteo has green eyes and black hair.
Finally, as if to remind us of an unusual ‘event’ in the Saint’s life, the official missal for the occasion had on the cover an icon depicting Jesus Christ crucified with Saint Francis beneath one arm of the Cross and Padre Pio beneath the other. This ‘event’, to be described briefly, was reported by Fr. Alberto D’Apolito, a friend of Padre Pio’s.
Jacopa and the Third Order
Giovanna Rizzani Boschi, a shy lady from Udine, became a spiritual daughter of Padre Pio in 1923. In 1905, while her father lay dying her mother gave birth to Giovanna in their courtyard where, during labour, she thought she saw a Capuchin friar. Meanwhile , in 1905, as a seminarian in the Capuchin friary Padre Pio wrote about a similar incident in which he found himself in a nobleman’s home during the birth of a child as her father was dying. The Virgin Mary appeared to Padre Pio and said: “I am entrusting this child to you --- she will seek you out --- but first you will meet her in St. Peter’s.
The Boschi family moved to Rome in 1922. One afternoon Giovanna visited St. Peter’s where she discussed doubts about her faith in a confessional with a Capuchin friar. She waited for this “gifted man “ before the Basilica was closed to arrange a further meeting. The sacristan showed her that the confessional was empty; he had vanished. Later, she heard about Padre Pio for the first time and decided she must meet him and arranged a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo. While Padre Pio was passing through a large crowd he stopped in front of her and said: “Giovanna, I know you. You were born the day your father died.” And he continued to reveal details of her birth and her visit to St. Peter’s. On a later visit he asked her to join the Franciscian Third Order, giving her the name Jacopa which she didn’t like. But he insisted, saying that a noble Roman woman called Jacopa was present at the death of St. Francis of Assisi. “One day you will be present at my death”.
In September 1968, the anniversary of the stigmata, Giovanna heard his voice calling her to San Giovanni because he was going away. She arrived and went to confession. After Mass, on September 22nd, Padre Pio became ill, but not seriously. That night, either in a dream or a vision, she found herself in Padre Pio’s cell where he lay dying, surrounded by friars and two doctors. She woke up and cried out to her friend that Padre Pio was dying. She got dressed and outside the monastery was told by a friar that Padre Pio was dead. Later, she related the strange events to Fr. Alberto D’Apolito and described in detail the interior of Padre Pio’s room (which before his death had never been photographed). He agreed with her description.
Indeed, in 1209, when St. Francis travelled to Rome to submit the rule of his new order to Pope Innocent III, he was supported by a Roman noblewoman called Jacopa de Settesoli. Subsequently she followed St. Francis’ life of austerity and was probably the inspiration for the founding of the Third Order of St. Francis. Jacopa was present at the death of St. Francis in Assisi. She died in Assisi in 1239 where her remains were placed in the “Saint’s Crypt“ bearing the inscription : HIC REQUIESCIT IACOPA SANCTA NOBLISQUE ROMANA
Beatification-Canonisation
Patience is a virtue and a virtue that was recognized as such by the devotees, prayer groups and spiritual children of Padre Pio. Even though the cause for canonization could have been initiated in 1973, ten more years elapsed before the complex process of beatification would begin with anihil obstat in 1982. In December 1997 the Decree of heroic virtue was promulgated in the presence of Pope John Paul II. The Servant of God was now Venerable. The medical board of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints examined a miracle attributed to the intercession of Padre Pio and the Decree on the miracle was promulgated again in the presence of the Pope in December 1998. His beatification by the Pope followed on May 2nd.1999 in the presence of a huge crowd.
Pope John Paul met Padre Pio in 1947, confessed to him and attended his Mass. This made a lasting impression on Fr. Wojtyla who recalled that Padre Pio “physically suffered “during the Eucharistic celebration. Also, in 1962 Bishop Wojtyla wrote to Padre Pio asking for his prayers for a friend who had advanced cancer. The malignancy disappeared the day before scheduled surgery.
There was no shortage of miracles during the life of “the man of prayer and suffering”, as Pope Paul VI called him. However, only those miracles occurring after death are considered for beatification with another, following that, for canonization. Again, the canonical documents were sent from the diocese of Manfredonia-Vieste to the Congregation and the medical testimony from Matteo’s cure was examined. In December 2000 the Theological Consultors met, followed by the Session of Cardinals and Bishops. Finally, the Decree of miracle and subsequently the Decree of Canonization were promulgated in the presence of Pope John Paul II.
Piazza San Pietro was packed for Mass on Sunday, June 16th. 2002. A large tapestry with the image of Padre Pio hung over the main door of the Basilica. No doubt many of his followers and spiritual children were ecstatic. The introduction included prayers, hymns and readings from Padre Pio’s writings. The choir sang the “Canto d’ingresso” followed by Psalm 97. Then the Pope recited a beautiful prayer in Italian, beginning with: “My dear brothers and sisters, today the Church inscribes the name of Blessed Padre Pio of Pietrelcina in the Register of the Saints---“,followed by the Miserere nostri ---. The Litany of the Saints preceded the Rite of Canonization with the Formula solemnly read in Latin by the Pope “ --- Beatum Pium a Pietrelcina Sanctum esse decernimus et definimus, ac Sanctorum Catalogo adscribimus ----“. “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti”. Amen.
Padre Pio's feast day falls on September 23rd, the anniversary of his holy death.
References:
1. San Pio da Pietrelcina: Gerardo di Flumeri & Luciano Lotti; Frati Minori Cappuccin,Provincia di “Sant’ Angelo e Padre Pio”.
2. "Padre Pio, Man of Hope" Renzo Allegri; Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, MI.
3. "Witness to Hope" George Weigel; Harper Collins, New York.
4. "Padre Pio, The Stigmatist". Fr. Charles Mortimer Carty. Tan Books.
Replying to a tweet in LiveTweet, the PS Vita's Twitter app. It shows the tweet you're replying to as a thought-bubble attached to your profile photo, which is a nice touch.
Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, died on December 4, 2000, aged 67, after suffering a stroke earlier in the year. Michael Colin Cowdrey was successively known to the world as Michael Cowdrey - when Wisden reported on him as a 13-year-old schoolboy prodigy - Colin Cowdrey, Sir Colin and finally Lord Cowdrey, when he became the first English cricketer to be given a peerage. In an era of outstanding English batsmen, he was the most durable, with a Test career spanning more than two decades. On his journey from teenage phenomenon to sporting statesmen, he was at the heart of the game for half a century: Cowdrey was the first man to play 100 Tests, captained England 27 times and scored almost 43,000 first-class runs - 7,624 of them in Tests. In later years, he played a major role behind the scenes in marrying the traditions of international cricket with modern demands. Yet it was still possible, and only mildly unkind, for one of his contemporaries, Fred Trueman, to describe Cowdrey on his death as "a terrific talent who never fulfilled his potential". Amid the triumphs there was often a vague sense of unease: of unexpected failures, opportunities not taken. Despite everything, Cowdrey never achieved the greatest accolade English cricket can offer: he toured Australia six times, which equalled a world record held by Johnny Briggs, but never once was he selected as captain; every time a more forceful figure shoved him out of the way when it mattered.
His entire early career, and most of the rest of it, was the stuff of male fantasy. His father, Ernest, a tea planter in India, was a first-class cricketer too, scoring 48 for the Europeans against MCC at Madras. Colin's parents met at a cricket club and, when he was born on Christmas Eve 1932, he was - famously - given the initials MCC, just in case anyone doubted his destiny. On the plantation Colin would play with an Indian boy eight years his senior, with occasional supervision from his father who initiated a rule, to encourage correct technique, that all leg-side shots would be given out. Colin was sent to a sporty prep school, Homefield, and apparently reached a century in his first proper match, only to give his wicket away and then discover that he had only 93. A modern thinker might be more conscious of the traumas rather than the triumphs. An only child - and not an insensitive one either - in the stern English schools of the 1940s, Colin did not see his parents for seven years owing to the twin tyrannies of distance and war. If, as countless spectators and writers later theorised, he had psychological flaws as a cricketer, who could be surprised? But skill at games is a great consolation to a boy, and Cowdrey was a natural: at golf, rackets and squash, as well as cricket. Within weeks of arriving at Tonbridge, he was in the First Eleven, though more for his leg-spin than his batting, and in the annual match against Clifton, then still played at Lord's, he scored 75 and 44, and took eight for 117. At 13, he was thought to be the youngest player ever at Lord's.
His leg-spin did not develop: Cowdrey later theorised that he could not grip a larger, adult, ball so well with his small hands, and that he lacked the necessary "bottle". But his batting began to flower gloriously: it was said that Maurice Tate, the last of his coaches at Tonbridge, would forget to signal while umpiring because he was so engrossed in Colin's strokeplay. As a 16-year-old he made an unbeaten 181 against the Buccaneers and was picked for Kent Second Eleven; at 17, he averaged 79 at school and, in August 1950, was eased into the county first team. At 18, just before he was due to go to Oxford, he scored 90 against Hampshire and 71 against the South Africans, became the youngest Kent player to be capped, and was picked for the Gentlemen at Scarborough against a Players side captained by Len Hutton. Cowdrey hit 106. At Oxford, his batting was impressive rather than earth-shattering. But he scored a century in the 1953 University Match, which prompted E.W. Swanton, in the Daily Telegraph, to compare him to Walter Hammond, the same thought that had struck Hutton two years earlier. He went close to 2,000 runs for Oxford and Kent that year but fell back in 1954 - he was astonished (more embarrassed than elated, according to one account) when he was chosen for the tour of Australia. He was 21. His parents saw him off at Tilbury; three weeks later, his father, aged 54, died of heart disease.
Only a few weeks after that, Cowdrey went out and attained cricketing manhood. Before he had even scored a Championship century, he made two hundreds in the match against a mighty New South Wales team. "He played throughout his two innings without a shadow of uncertainty," wrote Alan Ross, "the margin for error as negligible as in Hutton's own technique." The only question now was where, not whether, Cowdrey would bat in the Test match. In the end, England shied away from making him open - this time. He began with a crisp 40 in the defeat at Brisbane; at Sydney, in the Second Test, his partnership with Peter May turned the game; on New Year's Eve at Melbourne, he scored 102 out of 191 against Lindwall and Miller at their most incisive on a bad pitch: "a blend of leisurely driving and secure back play, of power and propriety," according to Ross. England won the game and , after he had made another 79 at Adelaide, the Ashes. A star was born.
But even in that glad, confident morning there were the first tiny clouds of criticism that would never go away. During his wonderful maiden century Cowdrey was becalmed on 56 for 40 minutes and, though it was now commonplace to compare him to Hammond, Hutton noted drily: "Wally was hungrier." When he came home, Cowdrey was conscripted into the RAF, then discharged after failing the medical because of damaged feet: he was attacked for this by MPs and anonymous letter-writers alike. An injured hand kept him out of all but one of the 1955 Tests. In the 1956 Ashes series he was obliged to open, which he never enjoyed, and South Africa that winter was a struggle. But by now Colin was married - to Penny, daughter of a Kent committee man (soon to be chairman), Stuart Chiesman, who ran a small chain of department stores in Kent. The son-in-law also rises and, though he was not a success in the drapery department at Lewisham, Cowdrey soon became a director of Chiesman's company. He was thus instantly freed from the cricket-or-business dilemma that had forced generations of amateurs out of the game prematurely, and which still haunted contemporaries such as May and Ted Dexter.
In 1957, he also became captain of Kent, a job he would hold for 15 seasons. But when West Indies toured that year, Cowdrey was not a certain selection for England. And when he went out to join May at 113 for three in the second innings of the opening Test at Edgbaston, England were still in thrall to Sonny Ramadhin and facing an innings defeat. It became one of the most famous Test match stands: 411 in eight hours 20 minutes. Not merely did they save the game, they transformed the relationship between the sides: Ramadhin was never a match-winner again. While May counter-attacked, Cowdrey stayed in his crease and played this most mysterious of bowlers as if he were an off-spinner, pushing forward and letting the leg-break go by. "Once Colin had committed himself to a policy of complete defence," said May later, "his technique was so good that he made no mistake in execution." Three weeks later, the other Cowdrey reasserted himself and he smashed 152 at Lord's, followed by 55, 68 and two. England were now so dominant that he never needed to bat twice in any of the last four Tests. So, at last, his cricketing personality was starting to emerge fully. He would still be compared to Hammond, especially when he launched into his cover drive or pouched slip catches with absolute certainty. But there was still something of Hobbs: the lightness of touch both technically and spiritually - with a sense that he sympathised with a bowler a shade too much for the sternest tastes. And there was also something all his own: an introspection that, as at Edgbaston, could help him think through cricketing problems like a master detective, but at other times could exasperate even his closest admirers.
Cowdrey did not, between Tests, impose himself on county cricket: as with Hobbs, a hundred was enough, and he also found slow, constricting seamers rather tiresome (he would later name Barry Wood, the Lancashire dobber, as the bowler he hated facing most). He was arguably more impressive when the England ship sank in Australia in 1958-59 than against weak New Zealand the previous summer, and his century at Sydney saved England from a 5-0 whitewash. Soon, however, he was forced both to revert to opening and to take over as captain because May was ill. Ostensibly, both moves were successful: he continued to score steadily and England were unbeaten in his first ten Tests in charge, until Lord's 1961. For this game May was back in the side, and after it the selectors restored him to the captaincy for the rest of the Ashes series. Their friendship was solid - May's seniority was unquestioned and he was steadily fading out of the game - so Cowdrey still had every reason to assume he would return to the captaincy with the same certainty that characterised his rise to it.
But he chose not to go to India and Pakistan in 1961-62 (not an unusual decision at the time); Dexter took over, did well, and so began the saga that dominated English cricket throughout the 1960s. Should Cowdrey be captain? Or A.N. Other? With Walter Robins as chairman of selectors, the debate was widened before the 1962-63 Ashes tour to include the Rev. David Sheppard, who was encouraged away from his pastoral work in the East End by the possibility of captaincy. Dexter won the contest and Cowdrey was again No. 2, though he was the senior partner in the moment of glory, when he made 113 and 58 not out to secure victory at Melbourne. By now the politics were submerging the cricket, Dexter stayed as captain in 1963. This provided the single most compelling image of Cowdrey's career: the moment he walked out to bat at Lord's with a broken arm. In the event, he had to do nothing, but the injury initially kept him out of contention for the 1963-64 subcontinental tour when Dexter opted out. So M.J.K. Smith, an Oxonian protégé of Cowdrey, took over. For the next three years the captaincy switched between Dexter and Smith, and, for the third time, Cowdrey went to Australia as faithful Achates, this time to Smith. He was now nearing his mid-thirties, and might have been edging towards retirement, as Dexter was, but when Smith was axed after England were hammered by West Indies at the start of the 1966 series, there seemed to be no one else.
The next three Tests also went badly, however, and, after a disaster at Headingley, Cowdrey was dropped from the side completely. With Brian Close as captain, England won at The Oval by an innings, and next year Close led England to five wins out of six against India and Pakistan. Cowdrey spent most of summer 1967 leading Kent to both the Gillette Cup and their most spirited challenge for the Championship since the 1920s, but he was brought back by England at a moment that ensured he missed Kent's crucial match against Yorkshire, which they lost. Close's reputation was sky-high, and every schoolboy (it was after all the 1960s) could assert that a tough-minded professional, raised in the hard northern tradition, was a better leader than an effete southerner like Cowdrey. The argument only intensified when Close was sacked after a time-wasting incident and a row with a spectator in county cricket. He was vetoed as captain for the West Indies tour, and Cowdrey was back, but very clearly as second choice.
Again he returned in triumph, having cashed in on Garry Sobers's much-reviled declaration in Port-of-Spain by scoring 71 himself ("Never has Cowdrey been more superb," said the Guardian). And though England yet again failed to win the Ashes in 1968, no one blamed him and there was much rejoicing when he made a hundred in his 100th Test. At the start of 1969, he was more firmly in the saddle than ever. Then an Achilles tendon snapped. His replacement, Ray Illingworth, was neither a regular Test player nor an experienced captain, but he proved a success and the following summer, before the Ashes tour, the selectors had to choose again. When he gave Cowdrey the news, Alec Bedser, the chairman, was most apologetic.
Cowdrey's fifth Ashes tour, his fourth as vice-captain, was a miserable one, even though the Ashes were won. He was ill for much of the following summer, and his career might have been drawing peacefully to its close. In 1970, he had led Kent to the Championship; having inherited a very weak side, he bequeathed Mike Denness a mighty one. But he did not let go, even after reaching his 100th hundred in 1973. Though he was sometimes left out of the Kent side, especially in one-day cricket, he was called up for his sixth Ashes tour in 1974-75 when an optimistic but ill-prepared England party suddenly ran into the hurricane-force of Lillee and Thomson.
England asked Cowdrey, then well into his 42nd year, if he would consider helping out. "I'd love to," he replied. Australian bewilderment was redoubled when, in the Second Test of that most virile of series, this rotund figure ambled towards the crease and introduced himself to Thomson: "I don't believe we've met. My name's Cowdrey". But he played him as well as anyone else. He retired the following summer, but not before scoring 151 to lead Kent to a stunning win against the Australians at Canterbury. A few days later he played his last game against the Aussies, for MCC at Lord's - and made a pair. "It was a vivid summarisation of his career," wrote Ivo Tennant, "of the way cricket took him to the very heights and back again." Though he played once in 1976, Colin was never able to take the field for Kent with his eldest son, Christopher, who was just about to break into the team, and later captained England once himself.
No one ever doubted Colin Cowdrey's cricketing ability. Fred Titmus has talked with awe about how, in dead county games, he would let John Murray behind the stumps nominate in advance the shot he would play: "Amazing talent, done without showing off." But there was always that enigmatic quality. Trevor Bailey said that he was too nice to demolish an attack truly, and that he worried too much. He certainly did worry. After his triumph at Melbourne in 1962-63, John Woodcock congratulated him and said he must be relieved it was all over, only to be told: "Yes, but now there's the next one to worry about." His character also caused some debate. Every cricket fan knew that Cowdrey walked when he thought he was out, and every prep school master thought this made him a hero. Professionals muttered darkly that he behaved differently on soft days in county cricket than at moments of crisis, banking on his reputation with umpires to get him through. "He was not generally liked by cricketers," said Illingworth. This has to be balanced against the thousands of people - high and low - who were charmed by his kindness and thoughtfulness. The unanimous judgment, though, was that he was indecisive, a captain incapable of inspiring his players and so much a ditherer that he even had to be persuaded to go for the runs at Port-of-Spain on that great day in 1967-68.
His later life shed unexpected light on all these speculations. In 1978, he left his wife and went to live with Lady Herries, a daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, causing temporary rifts with his children. They later married and she became famous in her own right as a racehorse trainer. In 1986, after some years pottering inconsequentially doing PR for Barclays, Cowdrey became president of MCC for the bicentenary year. He turned this Buggins' turn sinecure into an improbable platform for dynamic change. He forced out the long-serving secretary, Jack Bailey, to end an institutionalised feud with the Test and County Cricket Board, and meanwhile made the first moves to sever the umbilical cord between the MCC and ICC, remaining as ICC chairman after giving up the presidency. It was possible to have differing views of Cowdrey's actions - pro-Bailey members voted down the committee report and accounts - but dithery they were not. In the midst of it all, he was forced to have a heart by-pass operation and missed the bicentenary match and banquet. He remained ICC chairman until 1993, seeing through the change that made it a serious international body rather than an imperial relic, and continued active - given his new life in the Norfolk family - in helping run Arundel cricket and at Kent, where Christopher and his brother, Graham, ensured there was a Cowdrey on the books until 1998: a 48-year span.
In retirement, his involvement was thus more successful than that of all the men preferred to him for on-field leadership: May, Dexter, and Illingworth all failed as chairman of selectors, and Smith was an absurdly invisible tour manager. Cowdrey's reputation as a kindly elder statesman grew and grew: he was knighted in 1992 and in 1997 became a life peer, the second cricketer after Learie Constantine to be elevated to the House of Lords. He enjoyed himself there but never quite bestrode the Lords in the way he bestrode Lord's: there turned out not to be time, and perhaps his non-cricketing destiny should have been as an ambassador rather than any kind of politician. His last great service was to initiate "The Spirit Of Cricket", the Preamble to the 2000 Code of Laws. Through his last years, he would often travel hundreds of miles to make beautifully crafted speeches to cricketing gatherings, expecting no money at all. "He loved to be loved," said a friend, and perhaps a man, however great, needs reassurance forever when he spends seven years of childhood apart from his parents. He was loved. And the memory of him in later years - portly, a fraction stooped, his fey voice ever-solicitous about all-comers - will remain, almost as indelibly as the memory of him in his pomp: fairly portly even then, caressing the best bowlers' finest efforts past cover as though it were the simplest trick in the world.
Business Reply Mail Art is my new project where I utilize all the free postage companies give out. Using acrylic paint, markers, pencils, pens and robots I cover the non-postage side with an artwork and send it back to the magazine/business that paid for the postage.
We shouldn't have to say please but when one sends a message via e-mail or other communication, isn't itwonderful if someone takes that small amount of time to reply?
Imagine how much nicer this world would be if people replied to an e-mail, voice mail or even a simple, direct non-threatening question.
Photo taken for the flickr Macro Mondays group. This week's theme is 'imagination.' Each week we post up to five images depicting our interpretation of the theme.
"How come we never talk anymore?", said the plant to the lamp. "Because you're always leaving me in the dark", it replied.