Month: September 2021

Associated with light, ardor, and purity, the Seraphim (the firey ones) are honored in the church today. Let us celebrate and thank God for Michael, the great soldier of God, Gabriel, the messenger, and Raphael, sent by God to guide us. Raphael takes our hand and guides. He is right "here." All we have to do is say "Yes." Think about what ardor is: Have you felt "extreme vigorous passion" lately? Or has our life settled into quiet acceptance of "what is happening"? Those who are "out there" screaming and yelling about how awful things are with hoardes attacking the borders, not getting vaccinated so the rest of us suffer and have expenses with them when they get sick finally, those who claim we are headed right for socialism…. They have ardor, they yell loudly, but their noise is not filled with purity and light… it’s filled with darkness, anger, and hate. I look into the shouting, sneering faces in the news articles, and I shudder at what I see. Then I turn to look at the Cross. I don’t see any of that anger in His face. I see love. Ardor for the Right and Beautiful, is Pure, is passion filled with love and the heat of our desire to get closer to God who makes things right. We might not see the righting. In the book of Daniel (chapter 10), Daniel is praying for help… He is mourning and fasting because the world situation is very grim. Then "One (a man) dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold… His body like chrysolite (or topaz, fine yellow), his face shone like lightening" comes. The angel’s message: "Daniel, beloved" "For 21 days ‘the Prince of Persia’ stood in my way… Michael is busy fighting him now." Is the "One" Jesus? Is he Gabriel? We don’t know. But the message is… when things are really bad, and it seems our church itself is in grave danger, we must ask God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, for help. He will send help! We might not see the final end of battle, the "win", but our faith tells us it is coming. It’s time to continue our prayer. Pray for my niece Jennie who has a sick husband and 2 children. Jennie is sick with Covid. Heal her lord and let her get back to work. What a load we carry Lord. God bless us. Let us know Lord, Angels are with us.

When I am confronted with a situation where I want to speak out, I often do… speak out and thereby I have lost at least 3 friends with whom I no longer speak comfortably. I have indicated their ideas and speeches are crap. oops… I said that didn’t I? A lady at church gave me two publications and said, "read this!!! it’s powerful!" I read 1 1/2 pages and threw it down in disgust. Anti government forcing churches closed, Anti vax, anti kindness…. Snide remarks about lies and fraud. And lots of Bible quotes. I wanted to wash my hands after handling it. I have to give it back. What do I say, for we must not stand still. This lady kneels in the front row at daily Mass. She wears an American flag scarf every day. What a hypocrite!!!!! Wow! Tell us how you feel Susie!

I advise people who I feel are speaking mean spirited words to go speak to either a doctor or a priest and ask them what the expert thinks. Priests and doctors are supposed to speak with wisdom. And so I trust them. I too probably should ask a priest what he thinks I should say because she asked already if I read the papers and would I give them back. …. What would you do here? We must speak out at our own risk. God bless us.

Or… we’re all gonna get it. Yes that is the dredded Covid I’m talking about. We entertained 4 friends out on the dock. All vaccinated, and the talk turned to Covid. And the fact that it’s going to become a never gonna go away virus … So what we have to do is remain vigilent. In church this morning the lector’s head was full. I could hear his clogged sinus’ as he read, the lady who leads us in song said her voice was going, and as I sat there, isolated in my seat rows from everyone, I heard coughing. Good grief. I believe the 3 I heard are unvaccinated. One lady is back from a 2 week isolation with covid. She’s still sick. Walks slow, looks tired. My mother, who hugged everyone, would be very sad. Mother hugged! No more hugging Mom. No touching. ACK!!!

Yesterday I tried (again) to get a friend to accept vaccination. She said she won’t get it because it has baby parts in it. No! Well lets see; back in the 70s there was a "line of code" that was made from fetal tissue. The line is so small that it isn’t used, and certainly no more exists. The Pope asks people to get vaccinated. It’s not a sin for us to get a vaccine to save ourselves (whether or not it was developed in the 70s with fetal tissue.) The Pope would like us to save ourselves. I talked to a priest yesterday about this and he said his answer to "them… the naysayers" is "Shut up!" I was reminded of Biden who got so frustrated he said to Trump, "Just shut up!" So with that dispensation, I will get the booster when my time comes. Just like we line up for the flu shot and get our Publix $10 gift card, I’ll be lined up for the booster.

Jesus asked us (in Mark chapter 9) to accept and take care of the little one. Little is innocent, needy, and hungry for love and learning. When we take care of the little ones, we are little too. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta told the world to take care of the little ones. So, we first have to identify the little ones. I think we have 14,000 of them sleeping on our border…. sneaking in when they can. And we are afraid of them that they will take over. My parents both talked about how their parents left home for a better life in America. Of all 4 of my grandparents, 2 spoke No English, and they came for a better life. My Italian grandfather swept floors at the steel mill. My Italian grandmother had 9 babies and took care of people in the neighborhood, probably inspiring my Mother to go to nursing school. What the immigrants willingly do is the cheap work. Have times changed? Mother Teresa addressed the US President and his leadership: “If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world. From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak — the unborn child — must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!” The topic of this paragraph is babies, but what about the people of the world who are starving? We can’t take them all in. Although we do have a lot of land, but we need to help out of our wealth. What can we do other than complain loudly about "the rabble at the border"? How can we help the weakest of the weak ? St Mother Teresa is dead, and have we changed at her words? What can we do? God bless us.

On September 10, in Mass we read Jesus say, "Do not criticize because it would be the blind leading the blind…" because I would be complaining about a person with a splinter in his eye and I have a wooden beam in my eye. Get the beam removed from my eye first, then lead the other man to prayer. (Luke 6:39)… I try not to criticize, and when politics rears his ugly head, I try not to become engaged and I repeat, "We have a vote." I try not to become engaged because I will only get angry, which is a sin in itself. It is not peace. Just that. I can’t go to the border and make things different. i can’t make people get the Vaccine. I can only secure and soften my heart. I can only pray for compassion. I can only pour out my tears as the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. I can only pray for the injured. And I can vote. This morning we had a Communion service with Consecrated hosts from the Tabernacle. Our leader read a beautiful homily from "The Word Among us." I took notes: Based on 1 Timothy, based on disputes, We don’t have to give in to disputing. Rather we can follow Jesus’ example when he was accosted. Reveal the Father’s heart, Full of Love. Let Jesus’ holiness sweep aside negative rivalry. Eyes fixed on Christ, let us be encouraging. Bring Jesus’ Light into every situation. Bring the Light of Jesus and his Presence into all my life. Stop the negativity. pray. We are children of God. Do I believe God is "in charge?" God bless us.

“When you pray, you only have to ask for two things: You should ask for the light to see the will of God, and you have to ask for the courage to be able to do the will of God.” Father Al, a priest born in Washington DC, dedicated his vocation to establishing homes where poor children receive care. He worked hard to establish homes in South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and Honduras. Father Al died of ALS in 1992, but his homes, and the convents he established, live on. Father Al saw "the light" as that which illuminates our lives so we don’t stumble around tripping over our own weakness. I’ve often gotten into trouble with people by quoting, "We don’t need new laws. We need to ‘do the right thing.’" And people who oppose what "I say" is "the right thing" tell me… "what is right for me is relative."

Right is relative? I don’t think so. Is love relative? Is it OK to kill? Well, some people think so or our prisons wouldn’t be full. I watch the commercials about saving abused puppies, and I am so sad about caged, hurting animals who look out of those so sad eyes at us. They are beaten, starved and caged. Our cousin has rescued 2 cute little dogs who are really damaged from being abused. She changed her life to "save them." … I watch the commercials and I always say, "What about the babies we kill with abortion?" Here I am with my face out in the wind because many people believe abortion is a woman’s right. If only the "mother" could see those innocent little eyes… She wouldn’t consider abortion. She would do the right thing. But we aren’t supporting that are we? Go back to Father Al and what he did. He built homes for the poor children. We have to take care of the children. It’s the right thing.

I am not in support of the new abortion law in Texas. I don’t want to force people to love or to do the right thing… That’s not right. Can you imagine being afraid that your neighbor will turn you in for a reward because you "broke the law?" Let us pray for God’s light and love to shine in all hearts. It is shining in our nearly empty churches… Go and find the light of God and "Do the right thing." God bless us.

In the old days we tried to be part of the solution… But it goes back far into recorded history that there are always "nay sayers" who are only complaining and criticizing. The Pope came out on Sunday and asked people not to criticize… Rather stand and ask for light. Ask for reduction of darkness. Ask for a purging of fear, judgment, anger, and anxiety. Ask for a clean heart. (read Psalm 51: "A pure heart create in me O Lord.") We all have darkness. We all fear being hurt, but if I am encouraged and built up, I forget that I am afraid! In Psalm 27, the poet says, "I gaze on the loveliness of the Lord." When we look out we see smoke, floods, broken houses, messes in the street, and did I mention angry people? We ask, "what is wrong with this world?" and then we start to point, name, and criticize. Wait!!! We who walk the earth are all in the same boat! The waves crash around us and we are all seasick! We are all "on troubled waters." St Paul wrote to his churches, "You are children of the light. You can face anything that comes along if you grab the Lord’s hand." Now look out and think, "We are not at war any more. No more IEDs." Let this go. Stand up like a small child. Lift your arms to the sky and take it in! Grace is being poured out all over you!!! Listen: What others do is not my concern… My relationship with my Creator is my only concern. Keep singing and reaching for the sky and ask God to take care of the others! God bless us!