Sorry. I know I promised a blog every day in May with a picture to honor Our Lady, but that's what ONE beer will do to me these days!
For years now, I have tried to keep meatless Fridays. I think I've been pretty good at it. I know that we, as Catholics can substitute eating meat with some other form of penance or act of mercy, but quite frankly, I'm an old-fashioned sort of Catholic--Christ died on a Friday, and abstaining from meat is a remembrance of his awesome gift.
Anyway, I can count the number of times in the past 5(?) years that I have failed to remember what day it is, and eaten meat. Twice. The first time was when the family and I were in New York City a year ago February. We went to Ellis Island to look up the records of arrival to the United States from Italy of Marilyn's grandparents and uncle. We ate in the restaurant/gift shop and the hotdogs were Nathan's! Not thinking what day it was, and seeing those mouth-watering dogs was the perfect recipe for forgetting my abstention.
The second time was yesterday. One of my responsibities is to "cover" the General Managers when they take vacations. NORMAL people take vacations from Monday through Sunday. That way, they can take off "early" the Friday prior and get ten days of vacation out of 7. Not U-Haul General Managers though. For some reason, the last two GMs have taken Thursday through the following Wednesday! AND they've scheduled ME to work Sundays! Since I have promised to cover the days and hours they work when they go on vacation, if they normally work Sundays, so will I. But it sure screws up my "internal calendar!" I completely forgot that yesterday was Friday until AFTER lunch, when I got in my car to go back to work and I hear the radio (tuned to EWTN) host say, "...and tonight, on The World Over, with Raymond Arroyo...." Ugh.
I thought, ok, it's not a sin. But I'll go to the chapel anyway and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament and let Jesus know I didn't really forget what he did for me.
For dinner, I decided to get my favorite, shrimp a la diabla. It ALWAYS gives me heartburn, but it's soooo goooood. And of course, what is Mexican food without beer? While I don't get drunk, or even a "buzz" with one beer, it does make me sleepy after about an hour. I used to be able to drink two or three beers before I felt drowsy. Now it seems I'm drowsy after the first couple of sips. I just didn't feel like writing a blog, or watching TV, or playing games on the computer, or anything but sleeping. And did I sleep! I laid down on the sofa when I got back to the company apartment without even turning any lights on and fell right to sleep. I slept all night (without my C-Pap again!) and woke up by 5am, without an alarm, to get ready for work this morning at 7 feeling pretty refreshed.
I worked until about noon, then went to lunch. Since I brought my clubs with me (actually, I forgot to take them out of the car the last time I went golfing), I thought I would look for a golf course and hit a bucket of balls. I had heard that there was a golf course out by the airport, so I started at one end of Airport Drive and figured I would find it. I didn't. But, my mind being what it is, I was listening to and praying along with the rosary being said on the radio and the next thing I know, there is a sign that says, "Delano, 12 miles" to the left, and "Glennville, 11 miles/Lake Isabella, 23 miles" to the right. As Mom remembers from the first time I ever went to Lake Tahoe with her, I took the signs as a challenge.....
.....I took the right fork. I could have turned around, but what's the fun in being absent-minded if you can't have fun along the way? And it was only 23 miles to a beautiful river (the Kern). The 23 miles on the signpost was accurate, but what it didn't say was that it would take the better part of an hour and 5 minutes to get there. I have never been on a State highway that was narrower and had more switchbacks in the road as Highway 155. If you look on a map, it's nowhere near as curvy and steep as real-life! There is a 15 mile stretch that can not be traversed faster than 25 miles per hour, or you'll go right over the side with nothing to stop you on the way down. But it was beautiful.
Father Groeschel's program, "Sunday Night Live" came on at 2pm and I was listening to something he said pertaining to the Holy Spirit, when I blurted out loud, "Holy Spirit, if you're leading me along this treacherous road toward some podunk little town (meaning Glennville), at least make it worth my while and show me a pretty little church or something that I can visit as part of my 'pilgrimage'". Just goes to show you that he doesn't give me "signs" EVERY time I ask like the day before in the chapel in Gustine--it was a nothing but a little bend in the road. But the drive was invigorating and the lake and river views were well worth it. The lake looked full and the river was raging. I got back into Bakersfield about 4pm and turns out nobody even realized I was gone!
I turned on the TV a few minutes ago, and the local Catholic TV station (they are not EWTN per se, but they do carry some of the programs) was starting a program called "Movie Classics with Father Ricardo". I laughed out loud when I saw "Father Ricardo".
One of the first priests I met when going to daily Mass in Bakersfield was Father Ricardo Magdaleno. He speaks really fast and his homilies usually start out with a theme, but get off track because his mind races faster than his speech. But he is a good priest with good old-fashioned values who will let you know exactly what he is thinking, with a sense of humor and wit that is similar to mine. He is the first priest to hear my confession in Bakersfield.
I was kind of sad when he told me after Mass one day that he was being transferred to a "mission" church in Fresno, where he would minister to the patients in a nearby hospital. I was going to miss his sense of humor. It was good to see that the Bishop is using his talents in a unique way. I'm going to have to visit this "mission" church one of these days and check on him.
Well, that's enough for tonight. I'll probably have another "lives of the saints" entry tomorrow. I've read a couple of good ones this week I'd like to share.
Here is Our Lady of Lourdes, as depicted by Hector Garrido:
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