A friend pointed out to me that I haven’t written anything
here in a few days. I hadn’t noticed.
With concerns about my mom’s health and care and my nieces’
upcoming visit, I guess my mind has been elsewhere. Yesterday another hospice nurse countered the
counsel of earlier nurses, and said that mom’s sores were NOT getting better,
and then countered the other nurse’s recommended method of wound care ---
again. What to do? Who to believe? One of my nieces arriving today is a nurse in
a senior citizen home; hopefully she will offer counsel --- and hopefully not a
totally different one, again.
In the quiet of my prayer time this past week I felt no new
inspirations to write here, no answers to my prayers for His mercy for my mom. “Where is God in all this” is a question
which others raise and I tell them: “Do not be anxious.” But it is hard to watch a loved one’s suffering,
knowing where it will end, just not when.
- - - - - - - - - -
I said I didn’t hear answers that I looked for from God this
past week, but that doesn’t mean He was silent.
This past weekend excellent homilies were delivered by my favorite
pastors, and they are available as online podcasts for you to hear also. They will be well worth your time to listen.
The first was from Father Ed Fride, pastor at Christ The
King parish in Ann Arbor, who spoke (on April 21) about the New Evangelization,
and how we are all called to be who God created us to be, witnesses to His
truth. Fr. Ed pointed out that even
Samuel, one of the greatest of Old Testament prophets, had to be called three
times by God before he heard; it was a good reminder to me (again) to not be
anxious. You can hear his homily here (http://ctkcc.libsyn.com/)
Meanwhile, a few miles away Fr. John Riccardo at Our Lady of
Good Counsel parish gave the first of a series of homilies to educate his
parishioners on Catholic social doctrines related to human sexuality. Talking about sex in church on a Sunday is
not something some people want to hear --- and some of his parishioners told
him so --- but Fr. John does not only speak about comfortable truths. In our highly sexualized society we need to
be armed with the truths of our faith, and few proclaim it as well as Fr.
John. You can hear his homily here (http://frjohnriccardo.libsyn.com)
Finally, I read an article in this month’s Fortune magazine
by Nina Easton. She pointed out how many
women are discussing the fact that women still are a minority in corporate
executive ranks and how, on average, they are still paid less than men. But then Ms Easton moved on to a
less-discussed topic: American men who are “increasingly” becoming “far less”
better equipped than women to land promising jobs.
She referenced a recent study done by two MIT economists,
titled “Wayward Sons.” It appears the study
authors were initially looking to track women’s progress in the workplace, and
were somewhat surprised to find the glaring lack of progress of men. And digging into the data further they found
something that appeared undeniable:
young boys in this country are being seriously harmed when they are
raised in a home without a father.
The data brought out in the study showed disastrous declines
among men in our society, in education, in wages, in employment, and (in
general, it seemed) in a desire to lead a good life. (Male incarceration is way up.) In every age grouping, in every racial
grouping, in every ethnic grouping, while women were improving their lives, men
were moving in the opposite direction --- and the gap is now wide and getting
wider. Women today are finding there are
fewer and fewer men worth marrying, and so they’re not. And as marriages go down and single
motherhood increases, boys and men lose out. And our society, where shouts of “freedom”
seem to be calling for even more divorces, more “families” without a father,
and single motherhood, boys lose – big time.
And so does our way of life.
And as the Supreme Court considers homosexual marriage in
this country (and France okayed homosexual marriage and adoption), many are
saying that “loving parents” is all that is important.
They are saying that a home with a mother AND a father is
not that important, much less as planned by God. Really???
You MUST read this study and see the undeniable results,
here (http://www.thirdway.org/publications/662)
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