The Pope and a heat wave trigger some fond memories

I’m having one of those weeks that we all experience from time to time.  Nothing is wrong, but everything seems askew, right?  Almost like the feeling you get when you’re trying to remember a person’s name, and you KNOW it as well as your own but can’t quite get it.  Or when you know you put something somewhere familiar but you can’t find it.  Or when you’re looking for something for so long you forget what you were looking for. Or knowing a date is important, but you can’t remember why.  It happens to all of us.  For me, it’s been happening all week.  In fact, it usually happens twice a year for me and when I finally figure it out, it’s like finding the Holy Grail!

What two weeks are those, you might ask?  The week just before Christmas is one of them—December 20^th to be exact.  The other week is the last week of July.  July 27^th is a day I don’t think I’ll ever forget.  And yet I do.  Sometimes.  Like this week.  Until today.  What triggered my sudden realization?  The heat. I’m working in Ridgecrest California this week where the temperatures have not been less than 105 degrees . 

 

And the news about Pope Francis during World Youth Day.

 

So what did I forget and how did the heat remind me?  I forgot the anniversary of my dad’s death (or as I like to think of it—his “feast day”).   It was on July 27, 1970 that he passed away on a pretty hot day in Northridge California.  He and Mom had spent the day at my brother Bob’s house visiting and—to  hear my brother tell it—laughing and chiding him while he mowed his lawn in the heat! 

Heat also reminded me of Dad this week when I was trying to cool down and couldn’t, no matter what I drank or how I dressed or what kind of air conditioning was present.  I thought to myself, “Dad would have a hot cup of coffee right now!” 

I remember asking him one time during a heat spell how he could drink hot coffee when it was so hot outside.  He replied “I get the temperature inside my body to match the outside of my body and I don’t notice the heat so much.”  I laughed at him then, and I still laugh when I think about it.  You know what?  His reasoning was a bit off, but his advice was scientifically correct!  But that was my dad.

The other reminder I had was thinking about what Pope Francis means to me.  He reminds me a lot of Dad.  His gentleness, his kindness, his humility, his simplicity.   Always there to help someone in need without asking for recompense.  He lived the Gospels.  As Pope Francis asked us all to do last week in his speech to the youth of the world, Dad “put on Christ.”   He was certainly an example of  loving one’s neighbor as self.  I can only strive to be as good a man as he was.

By the way, the other date that really triggers my memories of Dad?  His birthday, December 20^th.  I mention this because I may need someone then to hit me upside the head again.  Maybe the Pope will say something. 

Belated Happy Feast Day, Dad.

Who said "tweets" are bad for you?

I love Pope Francis!  He has so much wisdom in his humility, and he shares it with us every day in his homilies and in his "tweets."  I would love to dissect and discuss every single one of the tweets, but I just don't have the time!  But three recent tweets all shared the same theme which, in my opinion, tie in nicely with our Independence Day celebrations this past week.  I hope you enjoy. 

 

“We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ.  He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.” (Pope Francis, July 2.)

Whenever there has been or is a rebellion for independence, whether that be a nation or a teenager, there follows a necessary search for identity. When the first thirteen rebellious colonies broke from England they then had to spend years figuring out and fighting among themselves about who they then would be. We can spend our lives making personal declarations of independence and thereby we think we are free. I remember a commercial from years ago about a brand of bread. The little boy told his mother he was running away from home. She asked him if he would like her to make a sandwich or two for the trip. He softly said that would be okay. Then he asked his mother if she would drive him.

As much as we love and fight for freedom personally and nationally, spiritually we have to fight to retain our sense of relational dependence upon God. While everything around us invites or urges us to shake off anything that hinders our freedom, that kind of rebellion leaves us alone with just what we wanted, our selves. While self- reliance sounds psychologically healthy, religiously and spiritually it is a phrase of foolishness. We can celebrate “self-made” persons for their independent works, but they really were not self -made at all.

We are given life, nourished by the loving motherly sandwiches of life. We breathe the sustaining air, receive the nurturing sun and rain and then, we can rebelliously stamp our foot and shout, “I am who I choose I am!”  In the very midst of our declarations, Jesus sends elders, apostles, advancers to tap God’s foot towards us, around us and announces that the “kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

“The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humility, service and love.” (Pope Francis, Jun 2.)

“How many kinds of moral and material poverty we face today as a result of denying God and putting so many idols in his place!” (Pope Francis, Jun 12)

We are similar to the “First Thirteen” colonies then who know from whence we came, but rebel at that kind of dependent identity.  Who we are is a bit tangential to who we will be through our own achievements.  It does seem in the history of God’s relationship with humanity that God expects this resistance as part of God’s relational pattern with us.  It seems that we struggle for our own identities by resisting and shaking off so that we can create our own kingdoms which are at our hands and for ourselves.  It seems that God says, “Well, you won’t know who I really am until you try to find out who you are by your own self-identifying efforts.  Good luck and I will not be waiting for your return, but laboring for your emptiness to free you to look up and smile.”

Hot enough for ya? Ha Ha

Man, was it hot today!  Thank God it's supposed to cool down (at least out of the 100-degree range anyway) for the end of the week.  Marilyn just called me to ask if I want to go to the cabin on Saturday.  My feeling on the matter is if that is where my family will be, there will I be also.  And, it's generally 10-15 degrees cooler up there.  It's a win-win.
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Today's July 4th post is courtesy of Father Leo Patalinghug:  Just click here.

I'm going to go sit under the air conditioning vent for a while.  Enjoy Father's post.

Papal Profundity

@Pontifex: We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ. 

He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.

Profundity

I just realized I spent about 2 hours writing the previous entry.  Because my busy season has now begun, I can't really afford the time more than once a week to write one.  But I think a fun idea will be to share the quotes I get daily inspiration from with you.  Usually they are from Pope Francis' "Twitter" feed, but occasionally from other sources as well. 

One of the Holy Father's recent quotes has actually effected changes in the way I order food in restaurants, as trivial as that sounds.  I have never really been concerned when I haven't finished everything on my plate.  After all, I paid for it.  Who cares if I decide I don't want it all?  Guess what?  After Francis' recent comment, I do.

Here's the quote:

"Consumerism has accustomed us to waste. But throwing food away is like stealing it from the poor and hungry."

YOUR will, not mine, LORD

I’ve been trying for several weeks to get to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation (Confession) but work kept getting in the way.  And it seems the longer I stay away from this necessary sacrament of confession, the easier it is to cave in to temptations.  I finally told myself “enough is enough!” and decided I couldn’t wait any longer.  So I checked the diocesan website and found a church that offered the Sacrament on Thursday evenings at 7pm.  At first, I was hesitant because that’s relatively late and would not allow me time for dinner.  I determined that mind-set was the devil trying to keep me away from the healing I desperately needed. 

My workday on Thursday seemed to drag on and on.  I guess I was anxious to bare my soul to Christ in the confessional.  It didn’t escape my notice that the church is the same church I was baptized in nearly 60 years ago.  That really added to my anticipation. I made plans to get to the church at 6:30 to say a rosary and examine my conscience. 

When I first walked into the church, there was about 20 people already there.  My thoughts went into overdrive.  I decided to keep it positive. “Oh well, not a problem-I’ll just be patient and make a good confession.”   It was extremely hot weather and the air conditioning was not on.  “OK, Lord, I get it.  I’m still going to do this.  You did so much more for me, after all!”  Then a group of musicians showed up with their instruments.  “You’re kidding, Lord!  Are you telling me I misread the time for penance?”  I was getting ready to leave when another man shows up and starts addressing the crowd (about 50 or so now) in Spanish.  I had already recited my rosary and examined my conscience.  I was sure this was going to be the most comprehensive confession I’ve ever made, and here I was standing up ready to leave.  The man took notice of me and in a thick Spanish accent started repeating in English what he had just told the others.  I know it was for me specifically, because he was looking right at me as he spoke.  He said he was sorry he was running late, but he would be staying as long as it took to hear everyone’s confession.  Since he wasn’t wearing his collar, I had no idea he was the priest!  He went to the Sacristy and brought the monstrance out.  We had an adoration service and recited the rosary (my second) in Spanish.  Then as the musicians played and sang Mexican spiritual songs in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the priest began hearing confessions.  After he heard my confession I was so in awe of all that had transpired it didn’t occur to me that it was after 9PM until my stomach said “FEED ME!”  at the same time my soul was prompting me to say “I will follow You wherever You go, Lord.” I am so weak in my faith.  But….. 

The Lord is kind and merciful.  God redeems our life from destruction.  However, this life free from destruction may look very different than the life we would imagine.  As Jesus tells us time and time again, a life following Him will not follow general conventions about “the good life.”  As Jesus teaches over and over again, we must give up our focus on building our own lives to fit our own desires in order to enter the abundant life that He wants us to enjoy with Him.  The challenge each day is to be willing to give up the place to lay our head and the burying of the dead that distracts us from the greater purposes to which He is calling us.  Yet we still do have day-to-day tasks that are part of our calling and our life of love.  I know in my own life it’s easy to allow my days to become destructive for myself and for those around me when I focus on the anxieties of tasks that seem overwhelming and the need to have everything under control.  I need to pray, today and every day, for help in redeeming my life from this destruction – to help me to focus on love and service rather than accomplishment and control.  I want to follow Jesus with abandon – whatever that means today.

How many times have we prayed the words “I will follow You wherever You go, Lord.” (Matthew 8:19) in all sincerity from our hearts?  Perhaps it was after a retreat, during a period of crisis when we are praying for help, or the many times we have felt the presence of Jesus close within us just as I felt after my confession last week.  Then what happens?  We get busy; life's responsibilities pull us in a multitude of directions.  We step out into the world and the culture of the times is often counter to the teachings of Christ.  It’s easier to just "go with the flow" and then retreat back to our safe haven at home.  It’s almost like living two lives!

The hard reality is to recall that, as Christians, we are meant to bear Christ wherever we go.  There is never a vacation from being a Christian once we have said that we will follow Christ.  We have the responsibility to serve by our own examples, by our actions and words.  We cannot remain silent when we see injustices and misinformation.  It means staying informed about our faith-beliefs and what is happening in our local and national spheres.  It is a big responsibility, but also a privilege.  We don’t go alone, as God is always with us.