SILENCE IN ADVENT

 

Advent is a season for hoping, waiting, and silence. It is no coincidence that it falls in winter, which in many parts of the world can be harsh. It is the time when nature digs in and is silent in growth. When I was at our Abbey in Connecticut, I found the winters difficult, not so much for the cold, as for the lack of green.  Here in the Pacific Northwest  we have green all year, even though our winters can be quite wet.

This Advent in anticipation of the coming of our Lord, we shall focus on SILENCE. While the world seemingly spins out of control, Advent invites us to slow down and listen for the still small voice of God. It calls us to be still. 

Even before Thanksgiving this year, Christmas decor was on the market.  The push for Christmas celebration seems to get earlier and earlier by the year. Which perhaps says something of a culture which seeks more than it understands or knows for a desire for the spiritual. 

Many Catholics don’t realize the Christmas season does not start until Christmas Eve Masses. Most do not know that Christmas Day lasts 8 days (an octave). Or that the Christmas season lasts until the Baptism of the Lord, and for some, until the Presentation of the Lord, February 2. 

This season of waiting in silent expectation through prayer is essential for being spiritually prepared to fully live the joy of Christ's coming into our hearts, into our world. The answer to being overwhelmed and exhausted from the materialistic overload is the one Advent offers to us. It is to choose silence. This is how we prepare our souls for Christmas. We must seek silence with our whole heartsfor it is in silence that we encounter the Living God.

As the Church, through the Liturgy, invites us into the silence of waiting, may we be aware of the precious, holy moments presented to us.

Elijah found God not in the strong winds, nor earthquakes, nor fire, but in the silence (1 Kings 19:11-12).

(Painting Jyoti Sahi- India)

POTATOES, TULIPS, BERRIES, AND BIRDS

 

 

 

This is the time of the year when farmers on the mainland in the rich Skagit Valley, donate hundreds of pounds of potatoes to us for the winter.  We have been known still be enjoying them on the 4^th of July, which amazes our friends. We also receive beets and brussell  sprouts, which are still on their long stocks.

 "Skagit" can refer to the Skagit Native American tribe, a dialect of the Lushootseed language, or a geographic location like the Skagit River and Skagit County in Washington. In the Lushootseed language, the word originally meant "to hide away" or "place of refuge" and was applied to the people who lived in the area, specifically the Lower Skagit people on Whidbey Island, south of us. 

 This ultra-fertile valley is nestled under the Cascade mountain range, with farmers producing about $300 million worth of crops, livestock and dairy products on approximately 90,000 acres of land. 

The Skagit River valley is blessed with some of the most productive agricultural soil in the world. The valley's fertile soil has been rated in the top 2% of soils in the world, making the Skagit Valley one of the most important and productive agricultural regions in the world. 

Thousands of years of flooding on the Skagit River deposited a rich layer of topsoil in the Skagit Valley. European immigrants flocked here starting in the 1860s and built houses in the flats, along with an elaborate network of earthen dikes to capture land from the saltwater delta and prevent the rivers from flooding the land. 

Over 90 different crops are grown in the county. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, tulips, daffodils, pickling cucumbers, specialty potatoes, Jonagold apples and vegetable seed are some of the more important crops in this maritime valley. This summer one farmer brought us 30 flats of berries - to be frozen for winter- after we ate to satiety!

More tulip, iris and daffodil bulbs are produced here than in any other county in the U.S. And our friend at Roozengarden is the largest.  At Easter and Christmas (and special times in between) our chapel if filled with his flowers.

Ninety-five percent of the red potatoes grown in the state of Washington are from Skagit County.

In addition to food and fiber products, agriculture in this region provides habitat for thousands of swans, snow geese and dabbling ducks.  I remember the first time I saw the snow geese in a field. It was January and as we drove by I swore it had snowed. As we got closer and closer to the site I could see the wings flapping.  A magical sight, and people come from all over the world to see this wonderous bird, along with swans which feed amidst the geese.The Skagit Delta supports 70 percent of Puget Sound’s shorebirds during migration, the farmland being the reason why the Skagit Delta is one of the most important waterfowl wintering areas in the Pacific Northwest, supporting over 90 percent of the waterfowl wintering in western Washington.

The ongoing presence and preservation of farmland in the Skagit Valley supports one of the nation’s last strongholds containing all five species of salmon. The largest chum and pink salmon populations in the entire lower 48, as well as the most abundant population of wild Chinook salmon in Puget Sound are found in these rivers.

We are blessed to live in an area so rich in produce and to have so many farmer friends willing to share their crops with us.

Photos:

Top: Jacob R. King

Tulips: Ruth Choi

Bottom Geese:  Rahan Alduaij

CHICLAYO AGAIN

 

 

A statue of Pope Leo XIV has been unveiled in CHICLAYO, his former episcopal city in Peru. 

As part of the celebrations on Thursday, Chiclayo's  bishop Edinson Farfán celebrated Mass and blessed the sculpture. He asked Pope Leo XIV to "always protect us with his blessing and to always accompany us".

The statue, which is around  16 feet high, is made of white fiberglass and resin and weighs around half a ton. It was designed by Peruvian artist Juan Carlos Ñañake. It stands at a roundabout at the southern entrance to the city of Chiclayo, which the local authorities plan to rename the "Papal Oval". 

It is part of a new tourist route called "Ways of Pope Leo XIV", which will include 38 places of interest in four provinces where the Holy Father left his mark during his time in Peru from, 1985 to 2023.

On the occasion of its unveiling, the governor of the Lambayeque region, Jorge Pérez Flores, emphasized that Pope Leo XIV "is a Peruvian who has walked with us and is certainly always with us with his prayers for the well-being of the Peruvian people". 

Pope Leo had addressed the faithful of the Chiclayo diocese in the main loggia of St Peter's Basilica during the first speech after his election as Pope on 8 May, assuring them of his closeness.

A SLOWER LIFE

 

I have been remiss in keeping up with Blogs.  It has been a very busy summer, especially in the garden. Our now small garden with 12 metal container beds (looking like something from Star Trek) have produced an abundance of veggies and flowers. At its peak the garden looked like a jungle. For the first time in many years I made gallons of tomato sauce for the freezer. Now that life has slowed and the weather turned cold, I promise more saints or saints to be- there are over two dozen waiting! Photo below shows Mother Dilecta, gardener, sacristan, poet, and avid sports fan, especially of the Mariners!

THE FEAST OF HEAVENLY FRIENDS

 

Today we celebrate the feast of ALL SAINTS.  Since this Blog is dedicated to saints, we especially remember our modern heavenly friends who we know are rooting for us in our own journey towards the Father.

Pope Benedict XIV said:
“To canonize a servant of God, it will suffice to have enough evidence that he practiced the virtues he had the chance to practice in a sublime and heroic way according to his circumstances and his station.”

Consequently, as Henri Joly says,
“the Church has numbered in the rank of saints not only monks, along with princes and princesses, kings and queens, emperors and empresses, but also merchants, teachers, greengrocers, farmers, shepherds, lawyers and doctors, bankers and clerks, beggars and servants, craftsmen, shoemakers, carpenters and blacksmiths.”

The rather widespread notion that the saints were not like us is simply false. They also were subject to temptation, also fell and got up again, felt oppressed by sadness, weakened, and paralyzed by discouragement.

However, mindful of the words of the Savior: Apart from me you can do nothing
(Jn 15:5), and those of Saint Paul: I have strength for everything in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13), they did not rely on themselves, but, putting all their trust in God, after every fall, they humbled themselves; they sincerely repented, cleansed their soul in the sacrament of penance, and then set down to work with even greater fervor.

In this way, their falls served them as steps toward an ever greater perfection and they became lighter and lighter. When Saint Scholastica asked her brother Saint Benedict what was needed to achieve holiness, she received this reply: “You must want to."      St. Maximilian Kolbe

                                                                    

JEREMY IN PERU

Recently, I had an email from my Irish friend JEREMY FLANAGAN, who has lived in Northern Peru for over 25 years, devoting his life to conservation, not only of the land, but of the birds.  (See Blog 5/21/2013)  While his struggle goes on to make known the importance of conservation, it is better today than when I was with him twelve years ago.

He has seen the importance of educating young children, helping them to be excited about their country and nature, but also having a hand in its protection. Jeremy’s wife, Cristina, is now a big part of his work.

One of his missions is to protect the plantcutter and its Peruvian habitat. Plantcutters are finicky about their diet and  are among only a handful of birds known to eat leaves. Along with finches, they form part of an even smaller group of birds that can move their serrated beaks from side to side, not just up and down. I spent over two hours in a hot, dry forest with Jeremy trying to locate this bird- one of the rarest in the world. Our patience paid of!  

Jeremy has written a book for children on this amazing bird and the biodiversity of Northern Peru's dry forests.  He and Cristina are even planting more native trees in order to save the birds who feed on their seeds.

It is estimated that only 500-1000 Peruvian Plantcutters (a Peruvian endemic) are left alive in the wild, with several other species of native flora and fauna of the Dry Forest threatened in various degrees.

The pkantcutter is a symbolic bird and a biological indicator of the health of the local Dry Forest. 

 Their habitat is in a narrow altitudinal range (from sea level to 550m) and highly fragmented, from patches of vegetation that follow important geographical features such as "quebradas" (dry riverbeds or gullies/wadis). The last remaining sites keep being reduced by man's destruction.

A PEOPLE OF RESILIENCE

 

War or any major disaster is like a long-term illness.  At first people rally around to help, offering support of any kind, but as the illness shows no sign of abating, people begin to drift away, leaving the patient alone, often to fend for themselves.

We certainly see this in the third year of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian morale, both civilian and military, has significantly declined due to the prolonged nature of the war, military setbacks, and a sense of exhaustion.

Factors contributing to this include a shortage of troops, insufficient rest for soldiers, uncertainty about Western aid, and a perceived lack of progress on the battlefield, which has led to an increased desire for a negotiated peace and a weakening of the will to fight among some.  

Estimates for Ukraine war casualties in 2025 vary, but recent figures suggest Russia has incurred over 790,000 killed or injured, while Ukraine has suffered 400,000 killed or injured. Russia also has approximately 50,000 missing personnel, and Ukraine has around 35,000 missing. These are estimates based on a variety of sources, including leaked documents and intelligence assessments from 2025. 

 As of September 2025, Russia’s war in Ukraine has dragged on for three and a half years. Despite nine months of efforts by the United States to end the fighting, there remains no end in sight. Yet despite all this diplomacy, multiple meetings, and countless statements, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine’s cities and engage in a brutal, months-long ground offensive.

Despite the low morale, the Ukrainian people's resilience remains a protective factor, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health and many soldiers express a strong commitment to fighting for their country despite their personal exhaustion.

On a brighter note, I try to find art or music that relates to the Ukrainian people which is rich but not well known to the Western world. One composer, well known in his native country, is Mykola Lysenko. I just came across his  Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes No.2- also known as “Dumka Shumka’ played by the British pianist Margaret Fingerhut in her album Ukraine, A Piano Tribute. In it I heard for the first time the haunting work of Viktor Kosenko, Nocturne-Fantasy. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a master of lyricism, but unfortunately died at theage of 41 of kindney cancer.

Margaret having a Ukrainian Jewish grandfather, in 2022 collaborated with Viktoriia Levchenko, a young Ukrainian filmmaker, to make a video in support of Ukraine. Set to her performance of Les Rochers d’Outche-Coche by the Ukrainian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz, the video raised money for emergency vehicles in Ukraine.

I always enjoy finding music of other cultures which are new to me, though revered in their native lands.

Our prayers are on-going for the courageous Ukrainian people who continue to show the world they will not be beaten down. They will not be forgotten and will always live on through their art and music.