Starting around last September, I was becoming aware of how many people were expressing their eagerness to leave 2020 behind. This was understandable. The collective struggles throughout the year were heavy, along with the many losses and unknowns. There was a yearning that flipping the calendar would help us move forward, into goodness and hope.
Friday, January 8, 2021
Hope
Friday, December 11, 2020
Sharing Stories
Many people have decorated their homes for the Christmas season. Once the turkey leftovers are long gone, our family forms an assembly line from the 3rd floor attic, down two full flights of stairs. We haul out tote after tote of holiday bling… fire brigade style. We are pulling everything out, but we are really looking for the box that holds our Advent items.
Friday, November 13, 2020
The Reason
My sister and her family don’t live near us anymore. This was a great loss to us, of regular adventures and cousin gatherings. (The cousins number 22 now, with the next generation of 6 in tow!) But even over the distance I would do anything within my abilities to remain connected to them somehow.
Friday, October 16, 2020
Bumps in the Road
With the “go home” pandemic and “stay home” quarantine, we totaled 9 people in our home. There was a lot of sharing going on, from family games and dinners to more tightly felt areas, like limited closet space. But with two children recently moving into their own rental and some additional shifting of furniture and bedrooms, there is promise of garage floor space once again.
Friday, September 18, 2020
That's Not Fair!
Parents will attest to often hearing from their children the phrase “That’s not fair!” One scoop of macaroni heaped a little higher on someone else’s plate? “That’s not fair!”
Someone else gets the cookie that is extra loaded with chocolate chips?
“That’s not fair!”
Even a yawning child might protest a disrupted movie for an earlier bedtime hour.
“That’s not fair!”
But who decides what is “fair”? And who decides what is “just”?
The Gospel this Sunday certainly encourages us to ponder that very thought.
In this parable about a landowner hiring and compensating his daily laborers, he seeks out vineyard workers at dawn for an agreed upon day’s wage. When he finds unemployed people in the marketplace later in the morning, he offers these workers, too, the opportunity to earn a wage in the vineyard. Hours later, he finds others ready to work. At noon, 3:00, even at 5:00 pm he is still bringing people to work in the vineyard. The story takes a dramatic turn at the end of the day when the last laborers hired are paid first. Even more troubling, everyone is paid the full day’s wage, including those who only worked one hour! The grumbling commences, especially by those who arrived first…
“That’s not fair!”
And we are not talking about youngsters anymore.
The parable strikes a chord in any human being who is, well, human. We feel on firmer ground when what is being measured makes sense to us, is fair, and is justified in our eyes; laborers getting unearned reward is hardly fair, not to mention their also being first in line! Even when the landowner reminds the workers who arrived at dawn that they were not being cheated, he gets to the deeper heart of the matter when he says, “Are you envious because I am generous?”
Ah, now there is a fair question. So often we get lost in measuring the work and the worth, and we grumble about the blessings we think others are receiving without merit. What damage happens when envy creeps into our hearts? Truthfully, who really is deserving of the FULL reward anyway? It all belongs to the landowner!
And still, He is abundantly generous, giving us so much more than what is really due.
We should be filled with humility and gratitude because “THAT’S not fair.”
Friday, August 14, 2020
The Assumption
Friday, July 24, 2020
Adoration
A quick realization that it was Thursday evening, and an opportunity to run up to the local church for Adoration, Confession, and Reception of Holy Communion.
A prayer service.
It’s late, but Jesus will still be there.
Kneeling before Him, with no words.
I feel like stone.
A thick, dense, column of stone.
Ah! Thursday! Luminous Mysteries.
The First Luminous Mystery is the Baptism of Our Lord. Our Father who art in heaven… (Jesus, wash over me, let your healing waters wash over me). The Second Luminous Mystery is The Wedding Feast at Cana. Our Father who art in heaven…(Mary instructs, “Do whatever He tells you to do”...Jesus, I want to, I really want to). The Third Luminous Mystery is (in a bellowing voice) THE PROC-la-MA-tion OF the GOS-pel. Our Father who art in heaven…. (Jesus proclaiming the Gospel, illuminating the Word, sharing the Good News… oh thank you for the Good News!). The Fourth Luminous Mystery is The Transfiguration. Our Father who art in heaven…. (Revealing your absolute divine glory… change me too, Lord! Change me, too!). The Fifth Luminous Mystery is The Institution of the Eucharist. Our Father who art in heaven… (Institution? Jesus. Jesus himself…. Up on that altar, in the monstrance. Now.)
NOW.
Veiled, a mystery, hidden in a monstrance, in what looks like bread.
Brilliant light,
illuminating.
The hardened stone.
Do something with the thick column of stone.
Anima Christi... “Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. Oh Good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds, hide me. Separated from you let me never be. From the evil one, protect me. At the hour of my death, call me. Into your presence, lead me, that I may praise you in heaven with all your saints, forever and ever, Amen.”
Dense columns can be changed....even tumbled, in prayer.
AMEN.
AAAAAA-MEN!