Ave Maria!

We are out of power here at Air Maria after hurricane Irene came through and knocked out power to about half the residents in the state of Connecticut. Our town of Griswold and the surrounding towns have 100% power loss and it could be a full week before it is restored. No definitive estimate has been given.

In the meantime, we are trying to find power whenever we can, using inverters to get power from our cars. We may get tomorrows homily up but there will be none from today and yesterday. All other posting will be reduced as well.

We do have good sized generator and even got it running the night before in a fevered, pitch battle against time, but in the morning when the power went out, the generator started up but the switch gear failed to hook into the generator. So now we are waiting to get an electrician but these, of course, are hard to find when they are so busy restoring power. Our friary only has two days of stored water so hopefully we will back on line soon. Keep us in your prayers.  You will be in ours.

Ave Maria!

The post FiNews – Air Maria Laid Low by Irene first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The power is finally back at our friary here in Griswold. Deo Gratias! Our prayers go out to all who have not gotten their power back or have suffered more tragic losses. Even with our small problems here we now have a much greater appreciation for the wonders of electricity which we normally take for granted.

It was mighty hurricane Irene, one of the biggest hurricanes (if you count size alone) which knocked out our power.

But it was a little tiny mouse which prevented our standby generator from coming on. After working feverishly to get the engine of the generator working properly before the storm hit we didn’t have time do a real test of putting the friary on generator power alone. But we figured it had worked fine a few months ago so we should be all set. Well, as we were praying early Sunday morning with the howling winds of Irene (a tropical storm by then) shaking the chapel, we were not too surprised when the power went out. We confidently waited for the generator to come on and, indeed, we heard the engine fire up automatically just as expected. We looked around the darkened chapel anticipating the lights to surge back on in a flood of lumens, but after a moment’s pause, and after a Hail Mary, we were quite sure the power was not to be restored so easily.

Upon investigation we found that small, fury creatures like the one pictured above had made a nest in the control box of the generator and in the generator itself. For such cute little critters they are actually quite destructive and rendered the generator inoperable, and …. rather smelly.

Fra Augustine made a special trip back form Mt St Francis Hermitage where he was working on the radio station and he and Fra John worked almost continuously for the next four days trying to get it working. Using the internet to get manuals and read the tech blogs, (via a cellular modem on a laptop powered by an inverter plugged into a car) they learned more about Onan generators than they ever cared to. They actually tested every component and even after replacing the few failed components the generator still never worked. The local electrical shops could not help because they where swamped with over seventy other generators that people needed to get working.  I guess the mice were very busy, indeed!

Eventually the many work crews who where cutting up fallen trees and replacing the downed wires along our Connecticut roadways got the main power on for us, beating our intrepid tech friars to the punch. As they say, the best laid plans mice and men often come to naught. Our generator back-up plans were dashed and the mice lost their nest which they had planned to be their permanent home.

The power came on at half voltage last night.  We did manage to get the homily up this morning even with the blinking, half-dimmed lights and the laptop switching back and forth between outlet and battery. Then full power came on at about noontime.

So we survived the biggest storm to hit New England in twenty years and even survived the tiny mice. We found out that we were in the worst hit areas in regard to wind damage and power outages in New England, as we are about ten miles away from North Stonington, which was the very worst hit.

We are now considering what to do with our generator. We definitely need to get it running so we don’t have to break out the candles, inverters and buckets again, especially with hurricane Katia threatening already. We are also trying to figure out what to do with Slink and Barb, our derelict cats, who let the mice play right under their noses! (To be fair they had no way of getting into the shed, but they have definitely lost their hero-hunter status here at the friary)

Thank you for all your prayers and kind words and for lending a helping hand in keeping the friary and the friars going during this difficult time. We are grateful. Stay tuned for more homilies and videos.

Ave Maria!

The post Fi News – Power is back first appeared on AirMaria.com.

BREEZY POINT, N.Y. — Some came by foot, walking miles in mud-soaked jeans and galoshes from cold shelters and barely inhabitable homes. Others carpooled from far-flung cities and boroughs where they had sought refuge. They came bearing small crosses, candles, hymn books and American flags, and squeezed into pews in one of the few familiar spaces left intact after Hurricane Sandy tore through Breezy Point, a tight-knit oceanside community and one of the city’s most devastated neighborhoods.

via Breezy Point Catholics Meet For Mass After Hurricane Sandy, Taking ‘Strength In Faith’.

The post Breezy Point Catholics Meet For Mass After Hurricane Sandy, Taking ‘Strength In Faith’ first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!  During Hurricane Harvey last year, the Virgin Mary gave a Catholic family hope in the midst of disaster.

Amid tragedy, one family found a symbol of hope.

Cidalin Rojas, whose family lives in Robstown, Texas, said tragedy struck her family when two of their homes, which sat next to each other, both burned down during Hurricane Harvey on Friday.

The family had built the homes from the ground up.

The high-winds of Hurricane Harvey caused the fire to spread faster than usual. Rojas’ parents’ Norma Rojas & Jesus Rojas; her sister, Natali Rojas; and several more family members, lost their homes that day.

“It was the saddest feeling that we have ever had,” Rojas said.

In addition to the heartache, a resident of the town captured the fires on Facebook live.

The Rojas family had already evacuated to Laredo, Texas, but watched their homes burn down on social media.

“Watching our home and not being able to be there and knowing it was burning in front of millions on Facebook, it was heart-wrenching,” Rojas said.

The family couldn’t return to the home immediately because members of the Robstown Fire Department told them it would be unsafe.When they did return Sunday evening, they found a glimmer of comfort in the form of a Virgin Mary statue.

“They got there and they were looking through the rubble and the only thing standing was the Blessed Mother,” Rojas said.

Rojas said her family is very religious and puts much of their faith in the Virgin Mary.

When Rojas’ daughter died in 2009, they buried her in a casket surrounded by pictures of the Virgin Mary.

Finding that the statue was still standing had deep meaning for the faith-filled family.

“It was just a sign of hope. It meant a lot,” Rojas said. “The statue was outside on the lawn in the front of the house so when all three stories came down and everything fell, I can’t understand why that wasn’t buried under. We truly believe that it is our personal sign that we needed.”

Source: Virgin Mary Statue Is All That’s Left After Family’s Home Burns Down During Hurricane Harvey | Inside Edition

The post Virgin Mary Statue Is All That’s Left After Family’s Home Burns Down During Hurricane Harvey | Inside Edition first appeared on AirMaria.com.