It's been that kind of a week...

Yes, it's been that kind of week. You know how it goes: where you have a long list of things you want to accomplish and at the end of the week, the list hasn't gotten much shorter. In fact, as the week goes on, you remember even more things that belong there, so the list gets added to several times.

One very heartening thing happened at Mass this morning. One of the choir members turned around to me and said very quietly, "Boo said to tell you that you can bring him Communion any time." Boo is her husband and a former long time member of the choir. He had to retire from the choir a couple years ago because of severe emphysema and he is on oxygen. He very seldom can come to Mass anymore because it is too much of a hardship for him.

Boo is a person who wants only the priest to come to bring him Communion. Our previous priest apparently visited him from time to time. Unfortunately, our present priest is not cut from the same cloth. But since Boo wishes to receive Communion more regularly, he has now asked his wife to tell me that I can do this for him. This is a big step for Boo and I was taken by surprise at his wife's request because I know his preference for the priest. It's a pity, isn't it? But I am grateful for this opportunity... God is good...

Dear readers, come to my bookshop!

No, that's not my pile of books! But this is a good representation of what I am doing at my shop! Trying to separate my freebie books that a vendor gave me, price them and then place them on shelves.

I love books!!! And with my bookshop, I have been in seventh heaven, selecting books that I want to read. I have a pile of books crammed into a small bookcase behind my desk where I keep the "important stuff" for my shop. They are the books I have picked out to read from the piles I go through.

I would never have believed that I would ever have a bookshop of my own. This just didn't seem possible... and then it all fell into place with our flea market shop. God works in some interesting ways!

Tax time is coming up soon... that means I will have to take an inventory of my books. Takes about a week... My guess is that I have around 3000 books!

In the meantime, let me enjoy what I'm surrounded with!

The Cat came back!

A vendor friend of mine told me this remarkable story about her sister's cat. During the first week of December, the cat failed to return home from one of her excursions outside. The sister searched for several days without finding the cat and finally concluded that it had been run over or that some other accident had befallen it.

The sister is a manager of a mobile home park and often has business with one or another of the folks who rent spaces in the park. One day last week, she visited one of the families in the park. As she approached the mobile home, she thought she heard a cat mewing from underneath the home. Mobile homes are usually required to have a "skirt" around the bottom of the home for aesthetic reasons and the sound was coming from behind the skirt.

Anyhow, she spoke with the owners and told them there was a cat under their home and that they would have to open the skirt and remove it. Apparently, the homeowners had not heard the cat or had not paid any attention to it.

The homeowners opened the skirt and a cat bounded out from underneath the home like a bat out of hell! The cat was nothing but skin and bones but before it fled down the street and out of sight, the sister noticed the collar around the cat's neck and realized that this was HER CAT!!! The cat who had been missing for a month!

The sister went home and prepared to search the neighborhood to see if she could find her cat. She wasn't sure the cat would be able to find its way home because of its emaciated condition. After having no food or water for a month, it might be in too bad a shape to remember where she belonged.

But as the woman opened her door to begin the search, THERE STOOD HER CAT WAITING TO COME INTO THE HOUSE! She opened the door and the cat darted in and went directly to where her food and water bowls had stood.

You can imagine the joy in that household. Because the cat came back!


~ Drawing - My Skinny Cat by Keith Mills

What's in store for the New Year?

It has been a long time since I have blogged here. I have good intentions but we all know what the road to hell is paved with! I have responsibility for my parish blog as well as a couple of other blogs... The parish blog is the only one that is flourishing.

I really want to be more active on this one... maybe use it as a journal. I hesitate to say a "daily" journal but more often than I have been using it. I like to write when there is something to write about... I lead a busy life but not an exciting one, which is one reason I haven't written more.

One thing I like about writing is that it keeps my mind active. Here I am, a 75 year old gramma, who hopes to keep my mind from turning to rust for a few years longer. I read all the time. Last year I read 54 books! I also have a flea market shop where I sell books (this is where I feed my hunger for reading), costume jewelry and other flea market treasures. I make very little money doing this. In fact, since the economy has tanked, I am usually going into the hole every week. However, I like the flea market atmosphere. Flea market vendors are an interesting lot...some real characters... I may write about them sometime...

I also am very involved in parish life. That might be something to write about in the future also... I'm getting some ideas even as I send these words into cyberspace....

Well, I guess I have gotten started...

Image Source: Playing with the Universe

Taking up your Cross ~ A reflection on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

I thought I would do something a little bit different today. Sometimes, I write reflections for our parish blog and I did so for last week's readings. This is what those readings said to me...

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jer 20:7-9
Ps 63:2-6, 8-9
Rom 12:1-2
Mt 16:21-27

It was just last week that we heard how Peter recognized Jesus for who He is: the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But in the Gospel reading today, Matthew describes how Peter becomes a stumbling block for Jesus.

Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his coming arrest; and the suffering and death he will have to endure at the hands of the chief priests who are plotting against him. Peter, who had just confessed his belief in Jesus as the Son of God, cannot believe what he is hearing. No, it can't be true! This cannot happen to God's Son!

But Jesus admonishes Peter: "Get behind me, Satan... You are an obstacle to me!" (Mt 16:23)

You can imagine how Peter felt. Perhaps he still believed that Jesus would reign over an earthly kingdom. How could Jesus be subjected to suffering and death and still be the Son of God?

Jesus then explained to his disciples and to us today what it means to be his follower, to be a Christian. We must deny ourselves and take up our own cross for his sake. To live according to his Word. We must expect to be persecuted and to suffer and perhaps, even to die for our faith.

Are we even willing to make such a sacrifice? Jeremiah faced a similar crisis of faith long ago when he decided he could no longer speak the Lord's Word to the people:

"I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire
burning in my heart...
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it." (Jer 20:9)

Even though he was being mocked by the people, Jeremiah realizes that God's Word cannot be restrained and thus he must speak.

Paul also recognized what needed to be done as he taught the Christians of Rome,

"... offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God..."(Rom 12:1)

We are not to conform ourselves to the world but to renew ourselves so that we can desire only to do God's Will.

Doing the Will of God is how we become holy and pleasing to Him. The psalmist understood our yearning for the presence of God in our lives as he prayed:

"...you are my God whom I seek;
For you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts...

...your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you." (Ps 63:2, 4)

The Hand of the Lord feeds us

This morning I was asked to substitute for the lector who was supposed to do the First Reading. I gladly do this when asked because serving in this way is one of my favorite gifts to my parish. I have been a reader for thirty years, I guess, and I have learned to read well. There is something about the words of Scripture that come alive for me as I read them. And I believe they come alive for the people who are hearing the words also. It is a gift that God has given me; and that I happily share with others.

Our first reading was from Isaiah (Is 55:1-3). I absolutely love the Prophet Isaiah... always have. It is always a joy to bring his words to life.

Today, Isaiah brings us the Lord's words of comfort to us hungry people. It connects so well with the Gospel reading where Jesus feeds the multitude who have been listening to His Words. Isaiah brings us the Lord's invitation to the feast:

"All you who are thirsty,

come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost,

drink wine and milk!..."

Can't you hear the Lord's compassion and in those words. "Come..." He beckons to us as He reaches out to us over the centuries... He knows we hunger and thirst, not only for earthly food but for the Food only He can provide.

In the Gospel, Matthew describes the empathy that Jesus feels as He looks over the crowd that the disciples wanted to send away to get their own food. Even though Jesus had originally wanted to be alone in a deserted place to pray, He found the crowd waiting for him. Matthew says,

"...his heart was moved with pity for them..."

Jesus did not want to send them away because He realized that they were hungry for His Word... for the hope He gave them... for the healing He brought them...

The miracle occurred in such a beautiful and simple way... Jesus took those few loaves and fishes, broke the bread and blessed them and had his disciples distribute them among the people. Such a reminder of our own Eucharist... Bread blessed and broken... so that our hunger can also be satisfied.

I was particularly moved this morning as I read Isaiah's words and am grateful to have been asked to do this reading on this day.

Lord, help me to hold out! ~ A Reflection on the Second Sunday of Lent

Our parish Lenten theme this year are the words taken from a gospel song that we sing: "Lord, help me to hold out!" Each Sunday after Communion, a member of the Liturgy Committee will give a short reflection on the Gospel for this week and how our theme connects with the Gospel. This week's Gospel tells the story of the Transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-9. I was selected to give this reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent.

- - - - - - - - -


Lord, help me to hold out...
Until my change comes!

In today's Gospel, we learn that Peter, James and John were chosen to witness a profound change as Jesus was transfigured before them. There on the mountain, His glory, which is the glory of God, was revealed to them.

"Lord, it is good that we are here," they said.

The apostles recognized that something wonderful was happening and they wanted to capture those moments and to hold on to them forever. They responded in such a human way as they planned to set up tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah so that they could remain in that holy place. But they didn't really understand what this transfiguration meant and then were terrified when the Father spoke from the cloud... "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased... listen to Him." By giving these instruction to the apostles, Our Heavenly Father was telling them that if they paid attention to Jesus, their lives would be transformed too...

During this Lenten season, we are asked to change our lives. To listen to what the Beloved Son is telling us through His suffering and death... To have faith that no matter what trials we are facing, God's grace and mercy will carry us through. To forgive others as Jesus did from the cross... To reconcile with others before we bring our gifts to the altar. To recognize that acceptance of God's grace allows us to change.

When our lives are truly lived with the light of Christ within us, we will be transformed also... Our light will shine like the sun!

So, we ask God to help us to hold out... To give us patience... until our change comes.