Joy, Laughter, and Hope

Yay!  I’m back in Fresno and I have my internet connection!    No more blogging with my thumbs!   I’m also able to catch up on the blogs I regularly read that I missed the last two days.  Normally, that takes about an hour or so.  But for some reason, it took 3 hours tonight!  What the heck happened yesterday?--must have been something newsworthy.  Lol. 

The immensity of yesterday’s events caused me to do something I rarely do—forget a birthday!  Not mine, but my brother Tom’s.  He would have been 57 on Wednesday.  I feel a little down that I forgot.  I’ll say a rosary for him tonight….for both of us.

Reflecting on the last couple of days that I was “out of town while ‘out of town’” [note: I work out of an office that is 150 miles from home.  For the last two days I’ve been working 180 miles away from my office]:  I have said since Ash Wednesday that I am having an “unplanned” Lent.  I am at the mercy of the Holy Spirit (pun intended) regarding my Lenten sacrifices.  It’s been one thing after another.  Or, I may just be listening extra carefully (scrupulously?) to the Holy Spirit this Lent.  I wanted so much to see all of the pageantry, rituals and liturgies involved in Pope Francis’ election and his first Mass, etc.  But because I was out of town and my laptop was not able to ‘stream’ the Catholic news media I am accustomed to, all I was able to see was what the “secular” media wanted to show—which wasn’t much.  And what they did show, they always followed up with some pundit reminding the world that the Catholic Church is still just a scandal-ridden, out-of-touch behemoth that should go away. 

Forgive me, Lord, but I’d like so much to stand toe-to-toe with those pompous, uninformed “former Catholics” and show them my “son of thunder” imitation!

 

If they would just open their hearts and minds to Christ, they would find there is still a lot of joy, laughter, and hope in being a Catholic.   

Joy 1:  I was able to spend an hour in Adoration of our Lord last night to thank Him for His gift of Pope Francis.  It’s been tough recently finding time to just be in His immediate Presence outside of the Eucharist.

Joy 2:  When I finally got into an area that I could listen to the radio, I tuned in to the first Papal Mass as the boys choir was singing the Responsorial Psalm.  The soloist’s voice was so beautiful, I cried!  It was all I was able to listen to before getting back to the office.  Note to self:  find the Mass on EWTN stream tonight.

Laughter:  This is a picture that is making its rounds on the internet.  Good, clean humor is never out of style.

 

Hope:  Lastly, I just finished reading Fr. Jim Chern’s blog.  He’s on a pilgrimage in Rome that was planned months before Pope (emeritus) Benedict announced his resignation.  What timing, huh?  Not on Father Jim’s part, but on the Holy Spirit’s.  Father Jim was supposed to be in Rome this week.  Not (necessarily) so he could witness the election of Pope Francis, but so that he could experience this.  One of Father Jim’s previous blog entries detailed a crisis in his priesthood early in his vocation when he took a sabbatical away from his duties while he discerned whether or not he made the right choice.

What a loving Savior we have!