Mental Illness & Bipolar Disorder

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"Australian high court defers decision on Pell appeal" 

https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=45563

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Had a try at a blog once more - it is still too confusing for me and I didn't get too far at all before I did not understand what it is was I was doing.

Abandoned again the idea of a blog!

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I am having FoxtelGo taken off my computer.  For a while I will miss it (the transition period).   It is sort of like what Thomas Merton wrote in Contemplation in a World of Action "sit in your cell and your cell will tell you what to do".

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One tries one's darndest to be a good person.......well most of the time I hope........... and when something trying comes along, one has to smile with St Teresa of Avila when she fell off her donkey into a stream the story goes - and said to Jesus:  "If this is the way You treat Your friends,then  don't complain if You have so few".

The government has announced a $750 stimulus package for pensioners, of whom I am one.  I felt really good yesterday and worked out how to spend it and get it back into circulation; however, Buddie my little Maltese Cross won't jump and he has hurt himself somehow.  My brother is taking me to the Vet tonight and probably I will have to borrow from him until the $750 comes through some time after the end of March........and quite likely the Vet will get most of it, if not all of it.

I am alternating (rapidly cycling ) between laughing at what St Teresa said to Jesus and worrying about Buddie and the likely end point of my $750.  Ah well, I hope the Vet will put it into circulation if I loose the stimulus to him. 

Most of all, I hope Buddie will be ok 

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"Rapidly cycling" is a term used in Bipolar Disorder when one fairly quickly moves continually between a manic type high and depression......see-sawing between the two.

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Back from the Vet.  Buddie's legs and spine are ok but there is a tenderness around his back area.  He had a pain medication injection and is on pain medication for the next 6 days.  How on earth will I get him to take it!!! This is the next problem !!!  I am going to take Rump stead out the freezer.   If he has improved after that, well and good, but if not I need to take him to the Vet again and the Vet do an Xray to further diagnose.

Vet said Buddie is going blind (cataracts) and has a heart murmur.  But for his age, he is in pretty good shape.  His health problems are not unusual in dogs of his age and he would have to be 14 years of age at least.

Vet has said too best to stop Buddie jumping and to have his beds on the floor level.  That is in the pipeline already.  He has one bed near my computer and TV and another in my bedroom - both needed him to jump, so they have to go.  Missie, my advanced age cat, likes to find her own water and bed, toys.  I have a large basket full of those items I have bought for her.  She never used them, totally disinterested.

My son and his wife's little dog at an advanced age went blind, but he got around the house ok - you would not know he was blind at all - the important thing is to leave furniture in places with which the dog is familiar, not shift things. Mojo, my son and his wife's little dog, had to be put to sleep but not due to his blindness.  The one problem Mojo did have was their home is split level and there are four steps between levels.  Mojo would just sit at the base and make unusual noises until someone carried him up to the next level.  The same if he wanted to come down.

Operation on a dog for cataracts can cost up to $3000 per eye and even then cataracts can return.

The images below are not a picture of Mojo but the very same breed of dog.  Mojo was an Hypoallergenic dog and was a real darling and very cuddly.  They now have four cats and one dog, also an Hypoallergenic dog.

 

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These diary type entries are an aid to a rather rapidly failing 74 year old short term memory.  My doc says it is only old age and nothing serious. Deo Gratius Laudate Dominum.

These diary entries, threads and posts - Phatmass in general -  also gives me a feeling I am talking to someone, which I am in fact.  And that is an aid to living alone and isolated.

Thank you @dUSt, our fearless boss and leader, for Phatmass............I am hoping that regular members especially are all donating what they are able monthly and keep the cost of running Phatmass down............even better, if donations cover the cost altogether.  At the end of April, I will be debt free again - Deo Gratius - and will be reviewing my humble subscription.

                      D0NATIONS (Right hand column)

 

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“Grant me a sense of humor, Lord, the saving grace to see a joke, to win some happiness from life, and pass it on to other folks.”

- Jean Legrand, Irish Blessings

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I have put the following in to my email signature in the quote box below.  Sometimes we cannot know if we have produced any good fruit or not.  Results are not our department, effort is.  Results are in God's Hands and only His.......results are non of our business really in that one "does what one can and leave the rest to God" (St Mary of The Cross MacKillop - our first Aussie saint)

Do what you can in a situation and then just move on to the next situation.  I can be strong on the 'talking' often much slower in practising what I preach.  I try and failure at times is a familiar companion.

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Catholic Catechism: Divine Providence - God cares for all                                        creation regardless

(Scroll down to "V. God Carries out His Plan - Divine                                                      Providence")

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(The hyperlink to the Catechism in my signature: https://www.catholicdoors.com/catechis/cat0279.htm

 

 

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                                                  St Paul

 

                   St Paul's Letter to the Philippians Chapter 4.....

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......"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness 5 should be known to all. The Lord is near.

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 

Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you."

 

 

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Coronavirus Australia: Queensland researchers find ‘cure’, want drug trial

Excerpt: "Some patients who tested positive for coronavirus in Australia have already been treated with one of the drugs and “all did very, very well,” researchers say."  Read short and to the point article on link below

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-queensland-researchers-find-cure-want-drug-trial/news-story/93e7656da0cff4fc4d2c5e51706accb5

 

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If I run out of toilet paper, I can use wet wipes, kitchen towels or tissues.  I have a small disposal bin in the toilet to dispose of whatever cannot be flushed.

So far it works ok.  If I run out of the above, any sort of paper will have to do.  So far I haven't run out of toilet paper even and I have only bought what I needed whenever I went shopping.  If toilet paper or anything I needed was out on a good special (before Corona Virus showed up) I would buy one or two units if I could afford it.  Hence when CV hit, I had a bit of a stock in reserve.

Coles in Adelaide are opening between 7am and 8am for the elderly and low incomes only.  They are closing at 8pm in order to clean the store and restock.  I did read a statement that Coles have said they have plenty stock in store storage and orders on the way wherever what is needed might be available.

My brother took me to my local Coles this morning at 7am.  I am not panic buying, just buying what I normally would for a fortnight.  I was able to get everything on my shopping list.  I think Coles have done a :marvellous job.  They have compiled a list: Customers with certain items can only purchase one or two items, some items might score a larger quantity.

The only noticeable bare isle was........wait for it..........the toilet paper isle.

Why are Australians so crazy about stocking masses of toilet paper beats me...........except that we really are a weird mob.  Toilet paper madness has now gone global    https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toilet-paper-panic-goes-global/3962821/

Thank you, Coles.  You are not perfect by a very long shot, but to me you are a winner at this point, striving to all able to purchase what they need.

In the midst of adversity which we all share, try to see what is good and beautiful around you and thank God for it.  To me, in a big picture sort of thing, we are being drawn together in adversity and becoming brothers and sisters in precisely the same rather dire circumstances.

 

                 The psychology behind toilet paper panic

https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2020/03/17/on-a-roll-the-psychology-behind-toilet-paper-panic

 

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A Vatican picture showed the pope and a small security detail walking on an empty Via del Corso (Picture: AFP)

 

Pope Francis has been pictured defying Italian government advice as he walks through the empty streets of Rome offering prayers to people affected by coronavirus and for an end to the crisis. Flanked by security guards, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church was seen shortly after delivering a blessing from his balcony window over an empty St Peter’s Square.

He left the Vatican unannounced and visited two churches, praying at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and St Marcello church where he prayed in front of a crucifix that was used in a procession when the plague hit Rome in 1522

A Vatican statement said he prayed for an end to the pandemic and also for the sick, their families and health providers and workers keeping pharmacies and food stores open amid a national lockdown.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/pope-francis-walks-deserted-streets-rome-pray-end-coronavirus-12402927/

 

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/pope-francis-walks-deserted-streets-rome-pray-end-coronavirus-12402927/?ito=cbshare

 

Pope Francis defied Italy's lockdown on Sunday afternoon, leaving his home in the Vatican to pray for those affected by the novel coronavirus at a famous crucifix that believers claim helped to save Romans from the plague in 1522.

 

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                                      Animals in Heaven? 

(The Church has never made a firm declaration on the question............and theologians still argue over it i.e. whether animals go to Heaven)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/do-all-dogs-go-to-heaven-pope-francis-leaves-pearly-gates-open-to-animals-1.2145039

"Pope Francis, already hailed for progressive views about homosexuality and the origins of the universe, has contradicted his predecessor and conservative Catholic teaching by suggesting that animals may go to heaven when they die.

According to Italian media reports, Francis made the comments during an appearance in St. Peter’s Square, when trying to console a little boy who had told him that his dog had died.

“One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ,” the reports quote Francis as telling the child. “Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.”

Related Stories

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Pope Francis: Evolution is real, God did not wave a 'magic wand'

Pope calls for more to be done to end modern-day slavery

The comments were clearly made in private conversation with the child and were not meant as a papal decree.

And yet they are the latest in a string of more progressive statements from a Pope who has adopted a man-of-the-people persona.

In October, Francis delivered a speech in which he said the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real and God did not wave a “magic wand” to create the universe.

And earlier this year, he asked, “Who am I to judge?” when discussing homosexuality.

As for his most recent comments, it’s perhaps no coincidence that Francis chose his papal name in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, who not only left a life of wealth and excess to devote himself to a life of poverty and preaching, but also regularly preached to animals.

St. Francis of Assisi is now known as the patron saint of ecologists for his love of animals and nature.

Francis’s predecessors were divided on the issue.

Pope Benedict rejected the notion that animals might go to heaven in a sermon, suggesting that when they die it merely signals the end of their life on earth.

However, Pope John Paul II before him suggested that animals do have souls and are “as near to God as men are.”

Edited March 18, 2020 by BarbaraTherese

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Romans Chapter 8:  We know that all things work for good for those who love God, 6 who are called according to his purpose.

 

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My Post HERE

 

There might be other posts of mine into the above thread link; however,I am posting it as follows here in full................

 

2 hours ago, Faustina86 said:

I think the book is writing about what is BarbaraTherese was talking about a form of a private vow for anyone interested in learning more about it.

Yes.  I was speaking about a private vow or vows (see my other post or posts in the above thread) - not connected in any way to secular institutes, although the dedicated single life is also a vocation in The Church.

I must underscore that this thread is about secular institutes and a great honour in The Church.  Since private vows has come up, I just would like to round things off if I can.

I think we need to remember that nothing whatsoever on any level is higher nor better, more perfect, than God's Will - some might find they are called by God to nursing for example or perhaps to the military, even accounting as another example - any role in life in fact...........no vow public or private, consecration nor dedication involved.  Such a vocational call and God's Will for a person is still a vocation (vocare - to call) by virtue of God's Will calling and taken up.  The person is committed (and foundational to vocation per se) discerning it is God's Will for him or her and discernment at any level is always prudently and wisely done with spiritual direction.  Pope Benedict recommends that spiritual direction is for anyone "who wants to live their baptism responsibly" https://spiritualdirection.com/2011/05/19/pope-benedict-recommends-spiritual-direction-to-everyone 

Absolutely no one does not have a personal vocation at any time in their life, while we all have the general call to holiness.  A personal vocation is in what manner or path God is calling one to achieve holiness.

Formal vocations in The Church with consecration solely to God by The Church are where public vows are concerned, or Holy Orders for priests and deacons. Marriage for the married.  There is also the eremitical life under Canon 603 and the Consecrated Virgin. These are all public consecrations by The Church. A committed single life in The Church as discerned as God's Will is a self dedication to God's Will with nothing formal/public within The Church.  Dedicated singles are in the world for the world as are members of secular institutes.  Consecrated vocations etc by The Church are taken out of the world for the world. even if they are living in the world.

Any vow or promise, dedication, to God must be fulfilled under the virtue of Religion.  We must remember that we are promising, vowing or whatever before God!  For that reason, it is an extremely important to know what one is doing and why.

Vocation is a call to to build on our baptism.  Private vows and dedication is more easily dispensed than those under some form of public consecration.  But to take up the private vows or dedication because it is easily dispensed is certainly a most imperfect motivation - full commitment too is lacking.  And commitment to whatever is the foundation of vocation per se.  Motivation however for any vocation can be purified as the journey goes on.  But it is a sin of presumption to presume that that will occur.  It is a different matter to hope it will occur and this is one area only where spiritual direction comes in.

With private vows, the terms of obedience under the private vow of obedience can be spelt out in one's rule of life even with "t's crossed"and "i's dotted", as can the private vows of poverty and chastity.

My mind boggles that God's Will should fall upon me or anyone for any reason whatsoever.  It is the highest action and act of God (with any content whatsoever) on earth to, for and with His creatures who are but dust and we all will return to dust.  The Will of God, God The Almighty, is totally humbling and amesome, stunning, sensational and bewitching.

  God's Will as The Ultimate Perfection - By St Alphonsus Liguori 

https://www.catholicbible101.com/godswillourwill.htm

  .  To study the theology of God's Will is astonishing, humbling - and more than well worth the effort.

Please return to the subject of secular institutes and please do be forgiving that I have diverted from it somewhat.

Edited March 24, 2020 by BarbaraTherese