The other day I picked up a pamphlet about a Novena to St. Jude in the back pew of Church. To those who work for the Church this is a regular occurance.
It’s a sort of chain-letter kind of thing:
- Make this Novena to St. Jude
- Publish in a newspaper the results OR leave a copy (or LOTS of copies) of this novena in Church
Lots of church vestibules constantly see these sorts of things, sometimes with stern warnings to not remove the novena material and so forth.
Why do some Catholics do such a thing? Well, in a word, superstition. There are lots of superstitious things that well-meaning (although mistaken) Catholics do.
For example, even more popular than the St. Jude Novena (NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL, BY THE WAY!) is the goofy practice of burying a statue of St. Joseph in order to sell your home (HE WORKS FASTER IF YOU BURY HIM UPSIDE DOWN!).
And, of course, often enough the home is sold, or the novena request is granted, thus reinforcing through lived experience and the resulting word-of-mouth how effective such activities are.
Thankfully Joseph and Jude are both Jewish; so they can smile when I say, oy vey!
Leave the propaganda at home and just pray the novena, people. And for God’s sake quit burying St. Joseph in the ground – not only disrespectful, but a violation of the First Commandment for sure, and likely the Fourth Commandment to boot.
Deacon Chris 
Monotreme Extraordinaire!
The word monotreme means “one-holed,” which describes the cloaca that this odd group exhibits. That just means that they have a single hole that serves the urinary tract, anus and reproductive tract.
I say, yada, yada, yada . . . Who cares about all that business – I think monotremes are just plain cool.
And no monotreme is cooler than the Ornithorhynchus anatinus, better known as the Duck-Billed Platypus.
And today I salute these beautiful creatures that serve as a testament to the hand of God, and especially to his sense of humor.
These half-beaver, half-duck, half-bird, half-mammal critters are just incredibly fascinating. They remind me of a Mr. Potato Head – slap a beak on the front, beaver tail on the back, etc.
But in fact, they glorify Almighty God in the simplest and most profound way – just by being who they are!
Learn more about these fascinating animals here.
And thank God in your prayers today for such wonders.