Near Tan Tan, south Morocco coast

Environment: sand and rocks. Living conditions: tents and MREs. Primitive. Weather: mostly cloudy, cooling ocean breeze, light intermittent rain.

Using satellite hook up through Embassy liaisson. Cannot load photos. Stand by for great shots of wild Atlantic coastline shot yesterday.

Thanks for visiting.

Oremus pro invicem: holy Mass daily
here at 0700 local time.

Bonne route

The Divine Artist paints with a generous brush.

The desert is a rainbow.

The Argan tree into which goats climb to eat the olive-like fruit.

Argan close-up.

Moroccan outback.

Market day.

The queue for the necessary at rest stop en route.

The color of life in a harsh environment.

The fruit of the Argan tree, the nut and oil favored by goats and humans.

In Africa

Landed close to noon today at airport near Agadir, Morocco. Flight was about about eight hours. Picked up and loaded bags on trucks and ourselves on buses for the first overnight near Agadir.

I saw a Marine walking around while we were waiting for the buses to depart the airport today as if looking for something and then overhead him tell his companions he could not find a drinking fountain or other water source. I reminded him that we have been advised not to drink the tap water here because of bacteria. I later pulled out my water bottle purchased in New Orleans and found the Marine and said, "My 'Boss' told me to give a drink of water to the thirsty" as I handed the bottle to him. He gladly took a drink and said, "Thanks for remembering me." The Gospel is pretty practical, is it not? To forget this sometimes means we lose the opportunity of loving Christ in our neighbor.

We are also in the neighborhood of Marrakech, a more famous destination, as evident from the signage along our route. Our police motorcycle escort caused curiosity among the locals as they stopped to try and see just who were these very important visitors who enjoyed priority over other traffic. Locals travel by moped and a few by bike. Many appeared to be on their way to the Friday mosque prayers. The arid landscape here is dotted pretty thoroughly by trees even where not actively cultivated. The palm and olive trees here are typical of the mediterranean region. Grass and flowers must be fostered by irrigation. No views of the sea yet.

The locals we have met speak Arabic and French but no English.

Some hours were spent in the sun today organizing our group for overnight stay and further transportation.

Two hot meals today and some catching up on sleep. Tomorrow will be an early day. Bonne nuit! Tousbh aala khair!

En Route

Arrived New Orleans and awaiting transportation for a few hours. Piped jazz music and free wifi on the atrium at Louis Armstrong Int'l Airport.

Travel refreshes awareness that I will pick up and move again this year. Moved in 2006, moved in 2007, moved in 2008 and will move again in 2009. Details forthcoming as available.

Is change the only permanent, dependable, reality in this world? Christ has come into the world so that we might possess,in Him, the only thing that lasts: Divine Love.


Not for me the carefully manicured existence, a luxury of stability. Is it not also the embedded presence of the chaplain that brings into contact with the Word those who will never enter a church or who are alienated from the Church?

My consolation prayer and, today, Psalm 139 (138) as illuminated in Breviarium Romanum. Take a look.

More information about our ultimate "destination" after arrival due to military infosec precautions. Perhaps photos also depending on technical support (read electricity).

Hint: Am going both to a new country AND a new continent; this will make four of seven.

Peace: Pray for it,
your travelling correspondent

(Photo: West Expansion Lobby, New Orleans Int'l Airport. Photo album here.)

Auguri di buon anniversario, Santo Padre! Happy Anniversary, Holy Father!

We pledge our steadfast love, fidelity and prayers.
Thanks be to Almighty God.

Ad multos annos.

Requiescat in Pace Reverend William G. Finch: "You have taken away my companions and loved ones; the darkness is my closest friend."

Gone home to God: a priest and pastor of God's holy people in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

"O LORD, the God who saves me,
day and night I cry out before you.

² May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave. ^c]">[c]

⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like a man without strength.

⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.

⁷ Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah

⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;

⁹ my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Selah

¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction ^d]">[d] ?

¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, O LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴ Why, O LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.

¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.

¹⁸ You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend."

-- Psalm 88

Father Finch suffered a fatal heart attack following the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Church of Saint Raphael in Rockville, Maryland, on 9 April 2009. His last words were to let those around him know that he was dying and to ask for the last rites of the Church. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

More about Fr Finch's death as reported by the Charleston Daily Mail from a Washington Post story.

Funeral rites:

Monday April 13th at St. Raphael Catholic Church
Vigil: 3:00PM to 9:00 PM
Vigil Mass: 7:30 PM

Tuesday April 14th at St. Raphael Catholic Church
Funeral Mass: 11:00 AM

Prayers, please.

"...and I will be whiter than snow."

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:7


He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
Psalm 147:16

Photos of Saint Peter's "under cover" by ((((..))))