#Hugh Barbour

[apilgrimsprogress]

The proof of Jesus' divinity is that no portrait of him is adequate.

Hugh Barbour

[politicaldilfs]

Mississippi Governor DILFs

Phil Bryant, Ross Barnett, Thomas Bailey, Paul B. Johnson Jr., Cliff Finch, Ronnie Musgrove, Fielding L. Wright, Wiliam Winter, James P. Coleman, Haley Barbour, Henry L. Whitfield, Hugh L. White, John Bell Williams, Kirk Fordice, Ray Mabus, Tate Reeves, Paul B. Johnson Sr., William Allain, Bill Waller

[amonsteronmaplestreet]

There is a Mouth, on the side of an old abandoned building. No one knows where it came from. No one knows how it came to be. But it's there. It's open. And it's hungry.

"This was one of the weirdest, most creative novellas I’ve ever read."

—River Gardner, author of Goodbye, Valentine

"HIGHLY recommend this one. It's got shades of Stephen King at his best and for me was a rare example of a novella that felt well-suited to its length. The fact that Seann's not famous yet baffles me."

—Steve Hugh Westenra, author of The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle

"This is such a creatively chilling short story... The Maw felt like a Stephen King novel, and while not overly graphic or gory, was so unsettling."

—Jess Please, @QuestionableReads Instagram

"Another winner from Seann Barbour"

—Jenny Ashford, 13 O'Clock Podcast

Pre-order it now:

Kindle US | Kindle UK | Kindle CA | Kindle AU

B&N Nook | Apple Books | Rakuten Kobo

[scotianostra]

On March 5th 1759 the lexicographer and church minister John Jamieson was born in Glasgow.

I know most of you will not have heard of Jamieson, but his publication, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, is credited with keeping the language alive. He was a bit of a polymath though and learned in many fields.

The language I am talking about here is Scots, the Scot’s Tongue as it is often referred to, If you have read some of my posts I like to dig out documents etc from days gone by, a most of these are written in Scots, you only have to read the poetry of Robert Fergusson or Rabbie Burns, the vast majority which is written in the language, or up to modern times if you have read any of Irvine Welsh’s books, you will know that as a language it is distinctly different to what is termed as “proper English”

Anyway a bit about the man, Jamieson grew up in Glasgow as the only surviving son in a family with an invalid father, he entered Glasgow University aged at the staggeringly young age of just nine! From 1773 he studied the necessary course in theology with the Associate Presbytery of Glasgow, and in 1780 he was licensed to preach.

Jamieson was appointed to serve as minister to the newly established Secession congregation in Forfar, and stayed there for the next eighteen years, during which time he married Charlotte Watson, the daughter of a local widower, and started a family. Their marriage lasted fifty-five years and they had seventeen children, ten of whom reached adulthood, although only three outlived their father. He next became minister of the Edinburgh Nicolson Street congregation in 1797 where he guided the reconciliation of the Burgher and Anti-Burgher sects to a union in 1820.

In 1788 Jamieson’s writing was recognised by Princeton College, New Jersey where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His other honours included membership of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, of the American Antiquarian Society of Boston, United States, and of the Copenhagen Society of Northern Literature. He was also a royal associate of the first class of the Royal Society of Literature instituted by George IV.

Jamieson’s chief work, the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language was published in two volumes in 1808 and was the standard reference work on the subject until the publication of the Scottish National Dictionary in 1931. He published several other works, but it is the dictionary he is best known for.

He had a particular passion for numismatics, and it was their mutual interest in coins which led to the first meeting between Jamieson and Walter Scott, in 1795, when Scott was only twenty-three and not yet a published author. Jamieson was also a keen angler, as the many entries relating to fishing terms in the Dictionary attest; and published occasional works of poetry, including a poem against the slave trade which was praised by abolitionists in its day. Entries provided by Scott include besom, which he described as a “low woman or prostitute,” and screed, defined as a “long revel” or “hearty drinking bout”. I wonder how many Scottish females have been called “a wee besom” by their mothers with neither really knowing it’s true meaning!

Jamieson’s association with Walter Scott was a two way thing, he wrote a Scots poem ‘The Water Kelpie’ for the second edition of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.

It was through his antiquarian research that Jamieson developed his practice of tracing words (particularly place-names) to their earliest form and occurrence: a method which was to be the foundation of the historical approach he would use in the Dictionary.

Jamieson wrote on other themes: rhetoric, cremation, and the royal palaces of Scotland, besides publishing occasional sermons. In 1820 he issued edited versions of Barbour’s The Brus and Blind Harry’s Wallace.

Revered by authors including Hugh MacDiarmid, who used it to shape his poetic output, Jamieson’s dictionary has long been regarded as a crucial groundwork which kept alive the Scots language at a time when it was in danger of falling into obscurity.

John Jamieson died on July 22nd 1839 and has a fine gravestone in St Cuthbert’s graveyard in Edinburgh, as seen in the fourth pic.

[seaglassandeelgrass]

Songs of tenants’ rights.

Cover is a 1932 photo of rent strike participants from Olinville Ave in the Bronx.

Bad Housing Blues- Josh White

Rent Strike Blues- Jimmy Collier

Pity the Downtrodden Landlord- Bob Hill

Landlord- Josh White

The Faucets are Dripping- Malvina Reynolds

Do Not Kill Your Landlord- David Rovics

Hey ho! Cook and Rowe!- Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

Old Man Trump/Beach Haven Ain’t My Home- Ryan Harvey (words by Woody Guthrie)

The Bourgeois Blues- Lead Belly

This Land is Not Our Land- Utah Phillips

Mrs. Barbour’s Army- Alastair Hulett & Dave Swarbrick

Evicted Tenant- Sis Cunningham

Ballad of the Landlord- Still on the Hill (words by Langston Hughes)

Mr. Landlord- Rick Ruskin

Rent Control- David Rovics

Talking Rent- Pat Foster & Dick Weissman

16 tracks; 44 min. [Spotify]

[my other playlists]

[twistedtummies2]

Top 15 Phantoms from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera”

Tomorrow, “The Phantom of the Opera” closes on Broadway. I’ve covered two of the major characters from the show already, with description-less lists of my favorite actors to play the beautiful Christine Daae, as well as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. I have saved the best for last. Today, it’s time for me to share my favorite versions of The Phantom himself.

In the book, the Phantom’s real name is revealed to be “Erik,” although I don’t think that name is ever actually uttered aloud in the musical. Whatever you like to call him, the Opera Ghost is typically regarded as one of musical theatre’s most coveted and applauded roles. Playing the Phantom of the Opera is considered one of the single most prestigious roles any performer can add to their resume, and it seems like just about every person to play the Phantom - no matter how popular or how obscure - has their fair share of fans. Part of the reason for this is simply the enormous popularity and longevity of the musical itself; another part is the iconography of the character, in general, as the Phantom is considered one of the most well-known Gothic horror characters in fiction, in the same ranks as Dracula and Frankenstein’s Creature. But I think another big part of it is simply that the Phantom is, without a doubt, the most interesting and fascinating character in the play. The Phantom is the villain in the original musical. There can be no mistake about that. He is NOT the good guy, and I think he, himself, on some level or another, actually recognizes that. However, he is one of those great, recognizable, and much-applauded types of Sympathetic Villains: the ones who, despite being completely in the wrong in everything they do, you can relate to and even feel sorry for. He’s lived a hard life, and a myriad of personal traumas have led to him becoming a mad genius, desperate for love and vengeful towards the world around him. He is a mystery in the Lloyd Webber show, in many ways, but everything we know about him only makes him more fascinating and more pitiable. It doesn’t change the fact he does things like hang people from the flies for no good reason at all, or attempt to brainwash the supposed love of his life and force her to marry him by threatening her fiance, but you can understand WHY he acts the way he does, and somewhere, deep down, you almost wish he could win. All of the greatest Phantoms know how to juggle the many intricate parts of the characters personality: he has to be deranged and completely unhinged, yet he also has to be refined and sophisticated. He is an artist and an intellectual, but he is also a hopeless and desperate romantic. He is a killer and a lover, a dream and a nightmare…an angel and a demon, all wrapped into one. Choosing for this list was harder than either of the other two, but I think I’ve made good choices overall. Here are My Top 15 Favorite Portrayals of the Phantom, from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera!

15. Colm Wilkinson.

14. Howard McGillin.

13. Scott Davies.

12. Peter Karrie.

11. James Barbour.

10. Ben Lewis.

9. Ben Crawford.

8. Gerard Butler. (I don’t care if it’s an unpopular opinion, I’m sorry, I unironically really like his Phantom!)

7. John Cudia.

6. Michael Crawford.

5. Hugh Panaro.

4. Anthony Crivello.

3. Anthony Warlow.

2. Ramin Karimloo.

1. John Owen Jones.

Tomorrow: My Top 10 Favorite Songs from “Phantom of the Opera!”

[marleneoftheopera]

Do you know if there’s a way to find out every main christine/raoul/phantom that’s been on broadway?

This page has a pretty good list of all the main actors for a lot of productions, including Broadway. Now bear in mind that it only goes up to 2013 for Broadway; the comments below it may have additions. Also note that this list goes by brochures and such, so there could very likely be an actor that came in for a shorter time that's missing.

To fill in for the missing actors, here are the main trios since 2013 (though I am probably missing some here and there too):

Peter Jöback, Samantha Hill (Marni Raab), Kyle Barisich

Peter Jöback, Marni Raab (Mary Michael Patterson), Kyle Barisich

Hugh Panaro, Marni Raab? (Mary Michael Patterson), Jeremy Hays

Norm Lewis, Sierra Boggess (Sara Jean Ford), Jeremy Hays

Norm Lewis, Sierra Boggess (Mary Michael Patterson), Jeremy Hays

Norm Lewis, Mary Michael Patterson (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Jeremy Hays

Norm Lewis, Julia Udine (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Jeremy Hays

James Barbour, Julia Udine (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Jeremy Hays

James Barbour, Julia Udine (Rachel Zatcoff), Jeremy Hays

James Barbour, Ali Ewoldt (Rachel Eskenazi-Gold), Jordan Donica

James Barbour, Ali Ewoldt (Rachel Eskenazi-Gold), Rodney Ingram

James Barbour, Ali Ewoldt (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Rodney Ingram

Peter Jöback, Ali Ewoldt (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Rodney Ingram

Ben Crawford, Ali Ewoldt (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Rodney Ingram

Ben Crawford, Ali Ewoldt (Kaley Ann Voorhees), Jay Armstrong Johnson

Ben Crawford, Kaley Ann Voorhees (Eryn LeCroy), Jay Armstrong Johnson

Ben Crawford, Kaley Ann Voorhees (Eryn LeCroy), John Riddle

Ben Crawford, Meghan Picerno (Eryn LeCroy), John Riddle

Ben Crawford, Meghan Picerno (Emilie Kouatchou), John Riddle

Ben Crawford, Emilie Kouatchou, (Julia Udine), John Riddle

Ben Crawford, Emilie Kouatchou, (Julia Udine), Jordan Donica

Note that John Riddle has returned since Jordan's limited run and will depart October 23rd. So there will be a new trio to add to this list for the final few months.

[roadimusprime]

This Lestat musical really dodged the bullet by only having James Barbour in the reading cast.

So glad Hugh Panaro got the actual role of Lestat in the finished production.

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 4.19

Beer Birthdays

Henry Becker (1851)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Fernando Botero; artist (1932)

Tim Curry; actor (1946)

Dick Sargent; actor (1930)

Glenn Seaborg; chemist, discovered Plutonium (1912)

Larry Walters; lawn chair pilot (1949)

Famous Birthdays

Don Barbour; pop singer (1927)

Czeslaw Bartkowski; jazz composer, drummer (1943)

Hayden Christensen; actor (1981)

Elinor Donahue; actor (1937)

Ole Evinrude; outboard motor inventor (1877)

Kate Hudson; actor (1979)

Richard Hughes; English writer (1900)

Ashley Judd; actor (1968)

Jayne Mansfield; actor (1933)

Thomas McKean; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1721)

Dudley Moore; actor (1935)

Eliot Ness; federal prohibition agent (1903)

Hugh O'Brian; actor (1923)

Murray Perahia; pianist (1947)

Valerie Plame; former CIA agent, maliciously outed by Republican administration (1963)

Troy Polamalu; Pittsburgh Steelers SS (1981)

David Ricardo; economist (1772)

Roger Sherman; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1721)

Al Unser Jr.; automobile race driver (1962)

Alan Wheatley; actor (1907)

Dar Williams; blues musician (1967)

[nickypoppieandel]

Is it Monday??? 🤣

Let’s hope I do a better job tonight…. First, I have to finish telling you about what we did yesterday. I forgot so many things.

Mostly, we were on the bus early and we had a 5 hour tour of Oslo. I have mentioned about the young guide who got the sack because he was “high”. There was a huge U.S. country and western concert (someone called Luke Combs… don’t know him) and I think he had been at that concert. Anyway, I hope he hasn’t lost his job and feels better today!

The sculpture park was truly beautiful. All his sculptures depict family people - or singles that become attached etc - and their journey through life. I have a feeling I didn’t finish telling you how he saved his work from being stolen by the Nazis. I’ll check.

when I say that the city fathers (and mothers???) and governments here appear to have long term vision, we saw that on our next stop when we visited the new Opera House. Built in the old industrial area of Oslo, people said they were MAD … nobody would go there. But whoever said “Build it and they will come” was right. Resembling a large iceberg, it was soon joined by other architecturally innovative buildings and open spaces for people to come and walk and eat (and have saunas!). One of the novelties is you can walk on the roof (a bit like the stretch of grass we can walk up above the Orange Library and Museum!!) and watch the sunset and relax. on our way to the Museum to see the Viking exhibition, we drove all round the city, passed the Palace and other significant buildings. You could spend 2 weeks in Oslo and not see as much as you would want. It would be so good to come back (not likely ….. but one of the one or two people who might read this might!) and explore the city more closely. I LOVE the architecture and Hugh Haynes would have fallen in love with it too. Anyway, we visited the Viking Museum, e hi biting lots of things (jewelry, head pieces, coins, swords etc) that have been found with buried longships. High ranking soldiers who died in battle were often buried with their ships and chattels in buried mounds. , often the same shape as their long boat. Being buried with their sword was important because Nirvana for the. Was to keep fighting. I think their brutality started to die down with the influence of Christianity.

Oh yes!!! Adjacent to the Holmenkollen ski jump is the Holmenkollen wooden chapel. (I might have a photo - not sure). Inaugurated in 1913 it was set in fire I. 1992 and re-inaugurated in 1996. Apparently it is the most popular place in Norway to get married but you have to book ahead 4 or 5 years!! I asked our terrific replacement guide if she knew of a good place to go for dinner last night and. ….. have I already told you?? I can’t see yesterday’s piece until I post this one? Well anyway, we went down to the Barbour and chose a restaurant and had a delicious meal.

This morning we were bussed to the station, hopped on the train for a 4 hour train trip to Myrdal passing ever coloring autumn trees, raging rivers and rapids, pretty white and grey houses (the barns are red) and then hop on the scenic Flam railway to Flam. This is a truly beautiful 50 minute train trip that becomes more and more dramatic and wild and includes the raging Kjosfossen waterfall which supplies the electricity for the Flam train. Lonely Planet reports this as the world’s best train ride. Then we arrived in Flam which is one of the prettiest Villages I have ever been in. The Flam Fjord is protected by UNESCO. Flam was built to house the workers and equipment for building the tunnels and tracks needed for the railway to Bergen. It is clearly now a ski resort village and is SO serene and pretty. Now… for those reading this (hello??? anyone there??🤣🤣🤣) blog who knew my brother Rog and knew he died recently, probably don’t know that just after he died, his daughter Claire was taking the dog for a walk in St Ives and she saw a double (??) rainbow over the house. Claire and her husband Ben are in Scotland and they have taken a bit of him to the Isle of Skye right up the top of a mountain with the best view and lots of people visiting? And sure enough… coming down from the mountain, what should she see but a rainbow coming out of where she had sprinkled him! And today, as we were on our way to Flam on this spectacular little train trip, a rainbow appeared and out came the sun! We also have a bit of him with us and we’ll take him next week to the Northern Lights. He was booked on this trip and I have been - sadly but luckily - able to take his place.

I am constantly reminded of a magical trip Hugh (H) and I had in 2004 to the Pilbara with Rich and then to Katherine and Kakadu with Angus. We felt - as I do now - that we were terribly organised with bag and backpack etc., only to overhear Angus tell a friend how hopeless we were, scrabbling around in the backpack looking for things!! It seems I haven’t improved, but - like that trip - haven’t lost anything yet!!!

By the way, by putting his sculptures out in the park, Vigeland was able to prevent the Nazis stealing his sculptures. I don’t really understsnd how that worked, but apparently, because they became public property, it did work. 👏👏👏👏

Tomorrow we have a ferry ride through fjords, a bus ride somewhere or other and then a train ride to Bergen. A walking tour around Bergen the following morning and on to the MS Kong Harald (look it up!) which is the boat that will take us to Estonia and Finland for excitement and hopefully the Northern Lights.

Good night! Photos will follow.

[foxedfinds]

www.instagram.com/reel/CkgoZLSIhRX/ Finally restocked at the Antique Village. Books by BB, Richard Walker, Hugh Falkus J R Hartley 😄. Rods by Allcocks, Milbro Reels by Mitchell. Barbour waders. Ltd edition prints by Paul Doyle, John Dalton and Mick Cawston Come on down

[kckerlon]

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[theinwardlight]

Love is neither merely thoughts nor merely talk. Love is compassionate action. Love is the holy cross. Love is the devoted concern for the interest of others. For [it], one is willing to sacrifice his own interest, to struggle without fear... Love does not tolerate evil, but can treat one’s shortcomings justly. Love is infinite tolerance of the shortcomings of others, and compassionate help. One should review and meditate on the love he has been given so that he can understand what love is. To love your enemy is to love adversaries among brothers and sisters. It does not mean that one should tolerate evil without condemnation... Condemning evil is love as well.

Hugh Barbour, Quaker scholar, on Ts’ai Yung-Ch’un’s view of love. Ts’ai Yung-Ch’un was a Chinese Christian philosopher and writer. 

[scotianostra]

On March 5th 1759 the lexicographer and church minister  John Jamieson was born in Glasgow.

I know most of you will not have heard of Jamieson, but his publication, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language,  is credited with keeping the language alive. He was a bit of a polymath though and learned in many fields. 

The language I am talking about here is Scots, the Scot’s Tongue as it is often referred to, If you have read some of my posts I like to dig out documents etc from days gone by, a most of these are written in Scots, you only have to read the poetry of Robert Fergusson or Rabbie Burns, the vast majority which is written in the language, or up to modern times if you have read any of Irvine Welsh’s books, you will know that as a language it is distinctly different to what is termed as “proper English”

  Anyway a bit about the man, Jamieson grew up in Glasgow as the only surviving son in a family with an invalid father, he entered Glasgow University aged at the staggeringly young age of just nine!   From 1773 he studied the necessary course in theology with the Associate Presbytery of Glasgow, and in 1780 he was licensed to preach.

Jamieson was appointed to serve as minister to the newly established Secession congregation in Forfar, and stayed there for the next eighteen years, during which time he married Charlotte Watson, the daughter of a local widower, and started a family. Their marriage lasted fifty-five years and they had seventeen children, ten of whom reached adulthood, although only three outlived their father. He next became minister of the Edinburgh Nicolson Street congregation in 1797 where he guided the reconciliation of the Burgher and Anti-Burgher sects to a union in 1820.

In 1788 Jamieson’s writing was recognised by Princeton College, New Jersey where he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His other honours included membership of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, of the American Antiquarian Society of Boston, United States, and of the Copenhagen Society of Northern Literature. He was also a royal associate of the first class of the Royal Society of Literature instituted by George IV.

Jamieson’s chief work, the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language was published in two volumes in 1808 and was the standard reference work on the subject until the publication of the Scottish National Dictionary in 1931. He published several other works, but it is the dictionary he is best known for. 

He had a particular passion for numismatics, and it was their mutual interest in coins which led to the first meeting between Jamieson and Walter Scott, in 1795, when Scott was only twenty-three and not yet a published author. Jamieson was also a keen angler, as the many entries relating to fishing terms in the Dictionary attest; and published occasional works of poetry, including a poem against the slave trade which was praised by abolitionists in its day. Entries provided by Scott include besom, which he described as a “low woman or prostitute,” and screed, defined as a “long revel” or “hearty drinking bout”. I wonder how many Scottish females have been called  “a wee besom” by their mothers with neither really knowing it’s true meaning! 

Jamieson’s association with Walter Scott was a two way thing, he wrote  a Scots poem ‘The Water Kelpie’ for the second edition of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 

It was through his antiquarian research that Jamieson developed his practice of tracing words (particularly place-names) to their earliest form and occurrence: a method which was to be the foundation of the historical approach he would use in the Dictionary.

Jamieson wrote on other themes: rhetoric, cremation, and the royal palaces of Scotland, besides publishing occasional sermons. In 1820 he issued edited versions of Barbour’s The Brus and Blind Harry’s  Wallace.

Revered by authors including Hugh MacDiarmid, who used it to shape his poetic output, Jamieson’s dictionary has long been regarded as a crucial groundwork which kept alive the Scots language at a time when it was in danger of falling into obscurity.

John Jamieson died on July 22nd 1839 and has a fine gravestone in St Cuthbert’s graveyard in Edinburgh, as seen in the fourth pic.

[milkboydotnet]

The essence of pain was to know one’s sins and self-will, but the source of the pain was the Light itself. To modern Friends it is startling to find the inward Light described in terms of such fierce judgement. The Light that ultimately gave joy, peace, and guidance gave at first only terror.

Hugh Barbour, The Quakers in Puritan England

[tabernacleheart]

“Son of Perdition.” “It were better for that man if he had never been born!” Horrible words for someone who evidently met a horrible end, and they were pronounced by One who was all-knowing, and who had given their object every kind attention. We speak of Judas Iscariot, Our Lord’s betrayer. The overwhelmingly common interpretation over time of such expressions is that Judas has been, is, and ever will be among the damned. [But] I for one cannot say that I have any joy in the thought, and still less in the conviction, of a soul’s damnation, much less of the soul of a chosen apostle. I am sure that [the] saints didn’t, either. Nonetheless, I can’t bring myself to contradict such weighty authorities with any certainty-- the sad fact seems to be well established in the tradition. Granted, there are some apparent exceptions, especially within the Eastern tradition. Origen in his commentary on Matthew holds out hope for a Judas who was so filled with remorse that he impulsively wanted to precede Our Lord in death so as to be able to encounter him in his “naked soul” and beg for pardon. St. Gregory of Nyssa tends toward a hopeful opinion; St. Silouan of Athos says we should pray for his salvation even now. [So... is Judas in hell?]

Clearly, we should hold on lightly to any interpretation of a soul’s eternal loss. The Church does not have an opposite process of canonization. There is no particular illumination to be received from the fact of a soul’s damnation, whereas a soul’s beatitude is filled with the light of grace and revelation and so is proclaimed solemnly by holy Church. Our message is of redemption, and the default outcome for Christians is salvation. [This gives] us a lot more hope and confidence than just the [vague] notion that God would not really let someone fall into eternal hell. [As Christians,] we can be [truly] hopeful about the salvation of even the worst of us without falling into a sentimental naturalism and the [misguided] doctrine of universal salvation. [This is because, far] more important than [trying to determine] the fact of Judas’s damnation or— if it were possible— his merciful salvation, is the example set before us, [for] every sinner, at least every grave sinner, is a Judas, one who has betrayed the Lord. He repents, but only to the point of despair. He regrets his fall, admits his injustice, but does not go immediately and seek pardon. [However,] Saint Peter betrayed [Jesus] also and at the same time, and yet Peter was restored by true contrition. He proclaimed, “Lord, You know that I love You! You know all things; You know that I love You!”

It is a certainty that God will give true contrition, which takes away even mortal sin, if we ask it of Him, and especially if we ask with trust, [and] intend to make a good confession as soon as we can... Contrition, a good confession, and a penance imposed by the priest and well performed will be our best offering at this holy time. The absolution of the priest will do for us far more than we can desire or hope for. Now is the time to make that good confession! [Do not make the fatal mistake of Judas, when redemption is mercifully within your reach.] The remission of one mortal sin is a greater work of God that the creation of the entire external universe. And yet this happens all the time in hundreds of thousands of sacramental confessions! If the removal of our sin requires an almighty power, it is not hard to understand that so great a power may do things beyond our imagination even beyond the grave. [That is hope for both us and Judas.] Between the next-to-the-last and the last breath, a new world can come to be. Between the bridge and the water, [our] salvation can be obtained. [As our own end inevitably approaches,] let us hope for all, and cling to the means of grace, and then we will escape the fires of hell for sure! Or, infinitely better, we will be fit for the glory of heaven and the resurrection!

Father Hugh Barbour, O. Praem.