#congdon

“The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word that is love, mercy, forgiveness. It also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Let us remember this: God judges us by loving us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but by my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.” ~ Pope Francis [William Congdon — Cross] 

• The first Pope of the Americas Jorge Mario Bergoglio hails from Argentina. The 76-year-old Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires is a prominent figure throughout the continent, yet remains a simple pastor who is deeply loved by his diocese, throughout which he has travelled extensively on the underground and by bus during the 15 years of his episcopal ministry. More: http://www.vatican.va/.../papa-francesco-biografia... 

Caroline M. Congdon (1841 or 2 – 1860)

Educated both in her mother's home and in the district school of her rural area, Caroline Congdon displayed early intellectual talent, but chronic poor health limited her opportunities. At age fourteen she experienced renewed symptoms of fever and paralysis that left her thereafter confined to her bed.

Still able to use her hands, she composed poetry from her bed using a pencil and an upside-down writing table that held a piece of paper in place above her head and chest. Her volume of poems, entitled The Guardian Angel, appeared in 1856 with a portrait of her unusual circumstance and a preface by the author that begged "the Critic to spare my little book, and the tender-hearted Reader to drop a tear of sympathy for its afflicted Authoress." She died four years after the book's publication. (www.librarycompany.org)