Among the Library’s many treasured books is a history of the Romans previously owned by President James Monroe. Pinned into the flyleaf are Monroe’s handwritten notes about the reign and reforms of King Servius Tullius.
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“The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.”
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O heavenly Father, Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to bless and sanctify this house and all who dwell therein and everything else in it, and do Thou vouchsafe to fill it with all good things; grant to them, O Lord, the abundance of heavenly blessings and from the richness of the earth every substance necessary for life, and finally direct their desires to the fruits of Thy mercy. At our entrance, therefore, deign to bless and sanctify this house as Thou didst deign to bless the house of …
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100 years after the events of the Boston Tea Party, two wealthy septuagenarian sisters from Glastonbury, CT found themselves fighting against taxation without representation. The curious case involves the seizure and auctioning of their pet cows, including two calves named Martha Washington and Abigail Adams.
Read MoreEvery family has a wild card, but when that card is your mother-in-law and she’s suddenly moonlighting as a one-woman currency exchange, you’d be right to start guarding your PIN like it’s the doomsday launch code. In this particular domestic financial thriller, we find a long-suffering spouse who’s watched their mother-in-law stumble from divorce drama to “online boyfriends” to investment schemes faster than you can say phishing. Already down one bank account, a few rounds of suspicious expenses, and blessed with in-laws who treat joint checking like an all-you-can-transfer buffet, our hero’s patience is running on fumes.
The last straw was when Grandma’s life savings Houdini-ed into digital coins, courtesy of a little too much trust and a shared account with the family’s resident futures enthusiast. Now, with $4,000 in grandma’s estate floating somewhere in digital purgatory, our guy does what any rational person would.
Padre nuestro que est�¡s en los cielos, santificado sea tu Nombre;
venga tu reino;
h�¡gase tu voluntad, as� en la tierra como en el cielo;
danos hoy el pan nuestro de cada dĂ?Âa;
perdona nuestras ofensas, as� como nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden;
no nos dejes caer en la tentaciĂ?Âłn y lĂ?Âbranos de mal.
Am�©n.
Á
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Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
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In early 2025, Harald Bernard Malmgren, a man with one of the most unique careers in American politics, gave his final interview. At 89, and facing declining health, he decided it was time to reveal what he knew. Over four hours, he spoke about names, dates, secret programs, and classified technology. Most shockingly, Malmgren claimed that in 1962, during a nuclear test in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. used a secret directed-energy weapon to bring down a non-human craft. He said he held the debris himself and even saw a video of a living extraterrestrial being. He also believed that…
The post Former Presidential Advisor: “I Directly Handled UFO Material” appeared first on Anomalien.com.
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Perhaps best known in philosophical circles for his rational proof of the existence of God, Saint Anselm was a great theologian as well. A Benedictine monk and scholar, Saint Anselm earned the title “Father of Scholasticism,” a school of philosophy/theology prominent in the middle ages, especially among Catholic philosophers and theologians.
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Saint Conrad of Parzham served as friary porter for 41 years. Anyone who came to the friary in Altoetting would have met Saint Conrad as he greeted them at the door. Such a role may not sound like much, but Saint Conrad turned it into a true ministry of love and service.
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In the early years of the Maryland colony, Lord Baltimore’s name referred to his estates, an entire county, and a port town that would one day become the third largest city in the United States… 30 miles northeast of its current location.
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Before the closing of the day,
Creator, we Thee humbly pray,
That, for Thy wonted mercy’s sake,
Thou us under protection take.
May nothing in our minds excite
Vain dreams and phantoms of the night;
Our enemies repress, that so
Our bodies no uncleanness know.
In this, most gracious Father, hear,
With Christ, Thy equal Son, our prayer;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Doth live and reign eternally.
Amen.
Read MoreAlmighty and loving Father,
I thank you for giving St. Gerard to us
as a most appealing model and powerful friend.
By his example,
he showed us how to love and trust You.
You have showered many blessings
on those who call upon him.
For Your greater glory and my welfare,
please grant me the favours
which I ask in his name.
(Mention your needs here…)
And you, my powerful patron,
intercede for me before the throne of God.
Draw near to that throne
and …
Heavenly Father,
in glorifying Jesus
and sending us your Spirit,
You open the way to eternal life.
May my sharing in this Gift increase my love
and make my faith grow stronger.
Send Your Spirit to cleanse my life
so that the offering of myself to You at Mass
may be pleasing to You.
May my sharing in the Eucharist,
our Bread of Life,
bring me eternal life.
This 17-year-old is counting down the days until her 18th birthday after her last memory of her late father was shattered by a dose of toddler drool. More specifically, she’d been treasuring a beloved stuffed Simba plushie since the day of her dad’s passing, and somehow her mom missed the memo of the toy’s importance. Years went by, and the mom moved on from boyfriend to husband, and finally started a new family with her new beau.
But the daughter would never forget her dad, especially because of her cherished stuffed animal that he’d given her.
However, the memory was tarnished when the mom insensitively invaded her teenager’s room, driving a wedge between her and her daughter forever.
We know time is relative. A minute microwaving leftover lasagna feels like an hour trapped in limbo, but three hours with a new crush whiz by faster than you can say whatever you’re saying for three hours.
In the elastic ticking of the universe, five days isn’t much, unless, of course, you’re five days out of a C-section, clutching a newborn, and relying on your own mother for support.
Freshly discharged from the hospital, our new mom finds herself at her childhood home, expecting the “it takes a village” treatment and getting “it takes an audience” instead. Grandma’s transformation began as soon as the last bit of applause faded.
God, my Father,
may I love You in all things and above all things.
May I reach the joy which You have prepared for me in Heaven.
Nothing is good that is against Your Will,
and all that is good comes from Your Hand.
Place in my heart a desire to please You
and fill my mind with thoughts of Your Love,
so that I may grow in Your Wisdom and enjoy Your Peace.
Blessed are you, loving Father,
Ruler of the universe:
You have given us Your Son as Your Leader,
And have made us temples of Your Holy Spirit.
Fill our family with Your light and peace.
Have mercy on all who suffer,
And bring us to everlasting joy with You.
Father,
We bless Your Name for ever and ever.
Amen.
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The concept of time travel is considered a very fascinating topic for most people. The ability to move back and forth in time can give rise to many possibilities. However, this mystery is likely to become even more mysterious if someone claims to have witnessed an important historical event by going back in time using a time travel machine. We are talking about a certain invention called Chronovisor, with the help of which, allegedly, scenes from the life of Jesus Christ were captured on photographic film. And now this device, as it is believed, is kept in the Vatican in…
The post Strange story of the Chronovisor that took a photo of Jesus Christ appeared first on Anomalien.com.
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Kids can be a burden to their parents sometimes, but ultimately the changes to a parent’s life are severely outweighed by the infinite joy that a child brings to your life. Raising a kid solo can be especially challenging, but exponentially more rewarding if you are positive about your parental outlook. Not only was the dad in this next story a negative Norman, but he also imparted his woes on his prepubescent son, reminding him on a daily basis that he’d be ‘moving on with his single life’ the second his boy turned 18.
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Relationships are usually imbalanced in some way. One of you might be older or younger and have more or less life experience. You might come from different educational backgrounds and thus have access to different kinds of jobs. One of you might be more attractive than the other and thus experience the world a little differently. And one of you might make more money than the other. That seems to be the most common kind of imbalance in a relationship. After all, who is making exactly the same amount as their partner forever?
These imbalances are inevitable. The way you navigate these imbalances, though, is what’s worth considering. If you’re on the same page as partners and are comfortable communicating with each other, then everything else should be okay. But this is easier said than done, especially when there are tender feelings surrounding certain subjects. That’s what happened in this situation, where a couple found themselves disagreeing about money.
Father in Heaven,
ever-living source of all that is good,
keep me faithful in serving You.
Help me to drink of Christ’s Truth,
and fill my heart with His Love
so that I may serve You in faith
and love and reach eternal life.
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist
You give me the joy of sharing Your Life.
Keep me in Your presence.
Let me never be separated from You
and help me to do Your Will.
You literally never know how a marriage will shake out. Many singles are advised to be extremely careful about whom they marry because that is the most important choice they’ll ever make in their life. But marrying someone upstanding, attractive, hard working, and happy doesn’t guarantee that it’s all going to work out for both of you in the end. The dynamics of a relationship come to a full 180 once you wake up one day and are bound together by law. Your partnership might have been fun and fancy free when it was merely a relationship, but once the excrement hits the fan, it’s all gloom and doom.
The relationship doesn’t even really have to change for things to go completely awry. Every monogamous relationship comprises two people with their own interiority and emotional state that can’t be fixed by merely jumping the broom and running off into the sunset.
You literally never know how a marriage will shake out. Many singles are advised to be extremely careful about whom they marry because that is the most important choice they’ll ever make in their life. But marrying someone upstanding, attractive, hard working, and happy doesn’t guarantee that it’s all going to work out for both of you in the end. The dynamics of a relationship come to a full 180 once you wake up one day and are bound together by law. Your partnership might have been fun and fancy free when it was merely a relationship, but once the excrement hits the fan, it’s all gloom and doom.
The relationship doesn’t even really have to change for things to go completely awry. Every monogamous relationship comprises two people with their own interiority and emotional state that can’t be fixed by merely jumping the broom and running off into the sunset.
Saint Casilda grew up as a Muslim. Facing a serious illness as a young woman, she journeyed to a shrine in Spain where she was cured. As a result, she embraced Christianity.
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Many parents believe that parenthood grants them access to their kids’ private lives, even without proper permission. They fully expect their kids to be okay with everything their parents might drop on them, and they often forget that those kids are real people too. Being a parent doesn’t mean you need to know about everything that is going on in your kids’ lives, especially as they get older and more independent. Boundaries should always be set, both for the kids’ and the parents’ sake.
For example, parents often want to know where their kids are at all times, and up until a certain age, that makes sense. You need to know where they are for their own safety. But at a certain age, 18 the latest, demanding to know where they are at all times becomes a violation of privacy. Even it they are still your kids, they need space to breathe, and they don’t need their parents breathing down their necks as they do so.
That is what led the 24-year-old daughter in the story below to take actions against her parents.
Saint Julie Billiart spent many years suffering from incapacitating ailments, but she never lost her drive to work for the Kingdom of God. Her desire to educate led her to help found the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
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Many young adults move back in with their parents during their 20s, at least for a little while. Some do it because they want to save money, while others simply because they want to feel secure and carefree like they did when they were kids. Either way, you hear of many young adults who are happily living in their childhood bedroom, playing roommates with their parents.
Other young adults would tell you they can never see themselves moving back with their parents again. Something about them being granted freedom and a chance for independence is irreplaceable, no matter the cost. They may love their parents, but they outgrew the four walls they grew up in, and that is completely valid.
How do you think these young adults would react if they somehow had to combine these two experiences–living with their parents, while also living alone in their own space? Just like the 27-year-old woman in the story below, who somehow found herself welcoming her retired mom to her home and letting her stay there for almost a year.
The following is a guest post by Regan Chambers-Kleiner who recently interned at the Library in the Serial and Government Publications Division as a part of the Archives, History and Heritage Advanced Internship Program (AHHA). From September to November, I worked as an intern with the Library’s AHHA program. My project was to review and …
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Rebuilding a life after a divorce is often difficult. The relationship that a person most likely thought was going to be forever didn’t work out, and now they have to figure out how to make things work without it. Assuming they want another partner, they have to experience all the drama of the dating game again, and if they have kids in tow, it only makes the experience even more complicated.
The reality is that while life might not end after you have children, it does make things very different. If a mom or dad is in the position of finding a serious romantic relationship, it’s important to take into consideration how a potential partner may be around their kids. While it may be upsetting for somebody to have to leave behind someone that they like because they don’t align with their lifestyle as a parent, it can occasionally be a necessity to keep the family at its happiest.
Am I terrible for not wanting my (38F) aging dad’s (65M) childfree wife (66F) to move into the apartment I built for him?
This is something that one adult woman found herself struggling with after bitter childhood memories and her sense of duty to her family collided. Due to their health, her dad and stepmom were looking to downsize to a smaller, one-story home, and she and her husband had built an apartment on their property for this exact purpose.
However, the woman was reluctant to offer it to them as she felt her stepmother had failed to be adequate in her role while she and her brother were growing up, being dismissive of them and seemingly annoyed that they impinged on her childfree lifestyle. In her current position she felt guilty, and looked for advice.
Goro Miyazaki says that though nothing can replicate the depth of his father’s work, new technology brings “great potential for unexpected talent to emerge.”
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The first part of Saint Ludovico of Casoria’s life was somewhat “ordinary,” but not the second. Having had what he called a mystical experience, he began establishing institutions for all kinds of people in need. He even founded two religious communities.
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Some parents become less involved as their children grow up. It doesn’t take a genius to know that children need more direct support from their parents when they’re young than they do when they’re teenagers, but that doesn’t mean a parent can lie low and do nothing. Parents need to be involved in their children’s lives for their entire childhoods, but that involvement looks very different when they’re 15, 16, and 17. Even if a teenager technically can do their laundry, make their own meals, and get themself to school, it’s highly irresponsible to assume they’re going to do that without parental supervision and support. If you’ve ever eaten a meal made by a 16-year-old, you probably know it wouldn’t be wise to let them feed themself three meals a day indefinitely. Teenagers need parents too, and you can’t just clock out of being a parent when the going gets tough.
Have you ever had a dream so vivid that you thought it was real, only to wake up and realize it was all in your mind? What if our waking reality is similar—not a fixed, physical stage, but a construct of consciousness? Science has leaned on a materialistic view, asserting that the physical world is primary and consciousness is merely a byproduct of brain activity. Yet, emerging evidence from physics, consciousness studies, and ancient wisdom suggests that consciousness is fundamental, creating our perceptions of the physical world, including the laws of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Beyond Space and Time…
The post Consciousness: The Fundamental Fabric of Reality appeared first on Anomalien.com.
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Eternal Father,
I desire to rest in Thy Heart this night.
I make the intention of offering to Thee
every beat of my heart,
joining to them as many acts of love and desire.
I pray that even while I am asleep,
I will bring back to Thee souls that offend Thee.
I ask forgiveness for the whole world,
especially for those who know Thee and yet sin.
I offer to Thee my every breath and heartbeat
as a prayer of reparation.
Amen.
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Already considered a saint by the people of El Salvador and elsewhere, Oscar Romero was recognized as a martyr for the faith in 2015. The time when he was Archbishop of San Salvador was a period of civil unrest and great government-sponsored violence.
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Great protector of the family, St. Gerard, we ask your prayers for all parents, that they may receive the grace to live in the love of God and bring up their children to know and love him with all their hearts.
We ask you to pray that those who take the lives of unborn innocents and attack the dignity of motherhood may come to see the error of their ways, and that all men may value the holiness of Christian family life.
God, our loving Father, your love gives life to the world. Bless and make …
I hate when people think they have a say in the location or time of someone else’s wedding. Now, if you’re footing the bill, you should probably have some kind of a say in whether a destination wedding in Mexico for 200 guests is within your budget. But if you’re just a random friend or family member, you can either show up and enjoy the big day or decline the invitation if a wedding detail makes you so irate. It’s difficult enough to find a weekend that will work for the bride, groom, their bridesmaids, groomsmen, the venue, and the couple’s parents. If you’re not one of those people, you are probably not important enough to schedule the wedding around. If you have a conflict that is more important to you than the wedding, it’s your choice to make unless uncontrollable forces are preventing you from going, which happens but is rare.
Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your family at a safe, non-walkable, preferably different-zip-code distance. But no, someone thought, Hey, let’s buy a duplex and live next door to my brother! Because obviously, the person you couldn’t share a pillow fort with as kids or agree on a TV remote is totally the right candidate for a semi-shared living arrangement featuring driveways, chores, and the occasional pile of passive-aggression.
Living next door to your sibling is less heartwarming family bonding and more a bad sitcom reboot. You’re the exhausted honest character trying to keep things functional while your sibling and their family side-eye everything you do like it’s a plot twist written to annoy them.
It’s like turning the clock back to those childhood weekends when you and your sibling spent way too much time together. You’re both mentally tired before lunch, and the whole afternoon becomes a series of 30 fights about absolutely anything: who gets to sit in the comfy chair, whose turn it is to pick the movie, and whether or not someone promised they’ll hand over that action figure in ten minutes and how much of those minutes have passed.
Father in Heaven,
You made me Your child
and called me to walk in the Light of Christ.
Free me from darkness
and keep me in the Light of Your Truth.
The Light of Jesus has scattered
the darkness of hatred and sin.
Called to that Light,
I ask for Your guidance.
Form my life in Your Truth,
my heart in Your Love.
Through the Holy Eucharist,
give me the power of Your Grace
that I may walk in the Light of Jesus
and serve Him faithfully.
Every family has its share of drama, but few can boast a mother-in-law who takes things to supervillain levels. This one didn’t stop at passive-aggressive comments—she schemed a secret DNA heist to prove her suspicion that her grandchild wasn’t really hers. That’s right: instead of enjoying her new granddaughter, she launched a low-budget spy mission, plotting to swipe some baby drool or hair like she’s a villain in a Saturday morning cartoon. I can almost picture her in her lair, sketching out plans while cackling over a bubbling oversized pot labeled “Family Chaos.”
Of course, like any good kid’s cartoon villain, her scheme failed spectacularly. Our hero—the mom—outsmarted her by setting boundaries so firm they might as well have been electric fences. And when boundaries struck back, our villain swapped her evil laugh for crocodile tears. Suddenly, the woman who orchestrated an entire paternity scandal was painting herself as the tragic victim.
She cried to anyone who would listen, claiming she had been banished from her grandchild’s life over one “harmless question.” Classic villain meltdown—you can almost hear the “Nooooooo!” echoing in overly dramatic slow motion.
We know very little about Saint Joseph, except that he was the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus. Scripture calls him a just man and points out a few incidences in which he showed virtuous behavior. After he and Mary found Jesus in the Temple, Saint Joseph is not mentioned again.
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Almighty and Everlasting God,
You have given the human race
Jesus Christ our Savior as a model of humility.
He fulfilled Your Will by becoming Man
And giving His life on the Cross.
Help us to bear witness to You
By following His example of suffering
And make us worthy to share in His Resurrection.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.
Amen.
Our Father…
MARY, Mother of Jesus,
you were Jesus’ gift for us from the Cross.
He gave you to …
Are you about the drama I’m one of those people who can’t tell if I like gossip, rumors, and drama or if I hate it. I certainly feel burdened with knowledge when I find out the personal happenings of two acquaintances I barely know through someone else who also barely knows them. When I hear drama and secrets that have nothing to do with me from a primary source, I usually forget about it nearly as quickly as I hear it. But when I know something about Peggy Sue that she doesn’t know I know, and I see her all the time, that’s certainly a source of stress for me.
It’s easier to be ambivalent or intrigued by drama when you’re not the one at the center of it, but when you are, it can create a maelstrom of abject humiliation that could take months or years to recover from.
Father of us all,
This meal is a sign of Your love for us:
Bless us and bless our food,
And help us to give you glory each day
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!
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There are lots of things we inherit from our ancestors, whether we like it or not. Maybe you have your mother’s eyes. Maybe you have your father’s sense of humor. Maybe you have your grandmother’s aversion to spinach. Maybe you have your great-great-great-grandfather’s affinity for bananas, but you would never really know that would you? Some things are ambiguous that we inherit, and we may never fully know where we get each part of our personalities, and if anything we’ve ever done is original. This is the pain of being a human. We’re made up of people and experiences, and we hope the whole is greater than the sum of those parts.
So it’s good to think about what you’re leaving behind. Not only in terms of legacy- maybe you have children, maybe you have a business, maybe you’ve produced art that will outlive you. But maybe you can purposefully leave something that will really be of value to generations to come- memes.
Some families take the order in which members are served at dinner very seriously. I never really gave much thought to the idea that children should eat first, the cook should eat second, and everyone else should eat last. In my family, we were so well-adjusted and normal that everyone got their food simultaneously and waited for everyone else to get their food before they ate. Imagine that? Granted, that’s pretty easy when only four people are eating, but I still don’t think it should be that big of a deal.
There are some families where the father takes umbrage if he is not served first. He thinks he is the man of the house, so he should get the Rice-A-Roni before his puny children and his wife. In most families, even if there is not a strict hierarchy, it’s not uncommon for the mom to be the last to eat.
Blessed are You, loving Father,
For all your gifts to us.
Blessed are You for giving us family and friends
To be with us in times of joy and sorrow,
To help us in days of need,
And to rejoice with us in moments of celebration..
Father,
We praise You for Your Son Jesus,
Who knew the happiness of family and friends,
And in the love of Your Holy Spirit.
Blessed are you for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Saint Maximilian of Tebessa—not to be confused with Saint Maximilian Kolbe who lived centuries later—refused military service and was martyred as a result.
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Our Father, may everything I do begin with Your Inspiration,
continue with Your Help,
and reach perfection under Your Guidance.
With Your loving care guide me in my daily actions.
Help me to persevere with love and sincerity.
Teach me to judge wisely the things of earth
and to love the things of Heaven.
Keep me in Your presence
and never let me be separated from You.
Your Spirit made me Your child,
confident to call You Father.
Make Your Love the foundation of …