I ask you to accept this post on abyssum.org in lieu of a personal letter thanking you for your birthday greetings on the occasion of my celebration yesterday, June 9, of my 96th Birthday. I have received so many birthday greetings from around the world that it is simply impossible for me to acknowledge each individually so I will make this post more personal than I would otherwise in order to compensate for my inability to address you personally.

I celebrated my Mass of Thanksgiving yesterday in my private chapel in my residence.

It was, of course, the Liturgy of the Solemnity of Pentecost. I thanked God for giving me the opportunity for celebrating my Birthday Mass with the Liturgy of the Birthday of His Church, for the Catholic Church was born on Pentecost Day. Since this could well have been the last time that I would be able to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on my birthday, it was all the more meaningful for me.

All things considered, I am in good health. I do not take any prescription medication and I am still reasonably mobile.

My principle ailment in recent years has been sciatica caused by spinal stenosis. That was taken care of by the implantation of three Superion titanium devices in my spine last year which relieved the pressure on my spinal cord.

Unfortunately the physical therapy ordered by my spine surgeon enabled the therapist at the physical therapy center to leave me unattended on “Saint Catherine’s Rack” and the mechanical table popped my Sacroilliac Joint and so now I am crippled.

I have managed to bring my macular degeneration under control by scrupulously following a strict diet. I have 20/15 vision in my left eye and 20/100 vision in my right eye. Unfortunately my right eye is my hunting eye and so I am no longer able to hunt feral hogs that do so much damage to farm crops.

My Type II diabetes is kept under control by avoiding sugar in my food and drink.

My days are spent working in my garden and on my computer and reading. I am currently reading Wolfgang Smith’s book, THE QUANTUM ENIGMA, in pursuit of answers to the riddle of gravity. Gravity is, I believe, a manifestation of the power of God to hold all of creation in relation to every part of creation. I do not expect to find the answer of the origin of gravity in my lifetime but hopefully God will reveal it to me in my afterlife.

In closing this letter I will share with you my reliance on a meditation/prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman, soon to be canonized:

God has created me to do Him some definite service:

He has committed some work to me,

which he has not committed to another.

I have my mission – I may never know it in this life

But I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain,

a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do His work. I shall do good.

I shall be an angel of peace,

a preacher of truth in my own place,

while not intending it – if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust him.

Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him;

If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, Hide my future from me

….still he knows what He is about.