Gobble-Gobble

 

On Sunday, as I drove to church my mind wandered a little, and as I came over a slight rise in the road, there, right in front of me, was a flock of wild turkeys.  I slammed on the brakes, and heard the skid of the car behind me (which was probably following too close).  As I stopped, the turkey in the middle of the road looked at me as if to say: “well, what do you want?”  And I really thought another started toward my car to bite a chunk out of my tire.  If it wasn’t for the car behind me, I probably would have peeled in reverse.  But after a moment of eye contact, the turkeys slowly walked off the road. (Because of the increased deer herds, Michigan is upping the number its deer hunting licenses this year.  I wonder if they have them for turkeys?)

In the Catholic Church, On October 2 was the feast day of Guardian Angels.  Don’t believe you have a guardian angel?  Hah!  Good luck the next time a deer or turkey crosses your path.

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Monday was a busy day for me.  I took time for a protein bar in the morning as I drove, but it was 3:30 in the afternoon before I found time to make a sandwich.  It was drizzly outside, so I was I in no hurry to drive to church, and I decided to take a half hour nap.  I heard the wind and very hard rain pounding outside and thought “it will be a fun drive.”  But when I started out, the rain had slowed to a hard drizzle, and as I arrived at church, it totally stopped.

I took my umbrella with me inside, as dark clouds still filled the sky.  But as I said my Evening Prayers, bright sunlight filled the chapel, and remained as I prayed.  Later, upon leaving I was surprised to walk outside and see the totally dark cloudy skies again, but no rain. 

I checked my phone messages as I sat in the car, and a Plymouth police car pulled in right next to me.  I’ve seen the officer before, as he sometimes takes his meal breaks to go into the chapel and pray.  As I slowly began backing up, the alarm on my car screamed, as a car came behind me, past the large police car I could not see around.  Wouldn’t that have been pretty, getting into a collision right behind a police car?  I think my guardian angel watches over me in ways I’d never expect.  And as I made my way home, the heavy drizzle began again.  It was as if the rain had stopped for me to go outside, and even went away while I prayed.  Guardian angel again?

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But my day ended on a funny note.  Driving home I stopped at a light behind a large blue vehicle with Michigan license plates.  The plate in front of me read: GO 8IUE.  I thought that was pretty original of that Michigan sports fan.

But They Are So Wrong!

 

I was planning my monthly confession, and so arrived early at church to be the first in line.  I reflected on my sins and how I might resolve to change.  I thought of the people and events which had irritated me in recent weeks.  I then recalled a talk which emphasized that God is Love, and when we grow irritated for any reason, it is a sign that the evil one is winning, for God is love, and in Jn 15:12 Jesus commanded us to love as He does.  That love is His will, and in His timing, not mine.  And I reflected that when we become irritated, we are not loving as He does.

Then the word “patience” came to my mind.  I need to be more patient with those who don’t think as I do, or are not as faith-filled as I am.  And then after a few minutes I began reading my morning prayers, and I read from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: “I plead with you … to live a life worthy of the calling you have received, with perfect humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another lovingly.”  Reading that, I thought again, yes, I need to be more patient with people --- all are not as blessed as I am, all are not thinking as I do, yet even if they think wrongly, I am called to have patience, “bearing with one another lovingly.”  Yes, I think I see what sins I must confess and how I must resolve to change.  Then the morning mass began (confession was after mass).  And while I sat there, suddenly I heard aloud the words I had just read, because that Letter to the Ephesians was the first reading at mass!  Patience!  Again!  And then, an even deeper thought struck me:  how patient God is with me.  And that became part of my confession also, how grateful I am for God’s never-ending mercy, never-ending love.  He is so patient with me.  Even when I am planning for confession, I was thinking what I thought were sins, but not seriously asking the One sinned against what He thought.  And so then He had to tell me, and tell me again, and TELL ME AGAIN OUT LOUD.  You need more patience in dealing with others, even as I do with you!!  Okay, Lord, I got it.  It took a lot to get past my pride, thinking that I know it all. 

But He is a patient, loving God.  Oh, if I could just shut my mouth one time, stop one thought of irritation at another --- it would be a start to loving as He commanded us to love in Jn 15:12, to love with a total self-giving love, as He did.  Patience is a Gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is also a major step forward in pleasing God.  And even if no one else noticed how hard I had to bite my tongue, He would be pleased.

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Glancing at my last posting, I guess this one is just a follow-up.  God is so patient with us when we fail.  This week I made a commitment to connect a woman I know who is losing her sight and very depressed, with a man I know who had lost his sight a few years ago --- and is extremely happy.  After a time, he had decided not to be depressed, but to get on with his life, and he found many resources to enable him to do that.  I resolved to connect Karen with that man.  And days passed, as I forgot that commitment.  Then another friend texted me to ask me to pray for her friend, Karen, who was having very serious eye surgery that day.  And after I got over that whack in the head from God, I texted my friend that I would pray for her Karen, and would she in return pray for the woman Karen I know who is losing her sight.  And that night, I called the Karen I know and told her about my blind friend, who is extremely happy, and who once even said “I see things much better, since I lost my sight.”  After a while of recalling happier times in the years we have known each other, Karen said she’d like to call my blind friend, and learn how he moved on with his life, even if sightless.

This blog’s title says it all.  We need to trust, despite what seems like the world falling around us, and be patient.

Can We Be Humble?

 

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will have no life in you (Jn 6:52)

At this many left, but Jesus said to the twelve: will you also go away? (Jn 6:66)

When the boss does stupid things; when the car in front of us cuts us off; when our spouse says they don’t love us anymore; these are times when it is hard to love them anyway --- as He does us.  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).

During the consecration at mass this morning, the priest in Persona Christi elevated the large host and said This is my Body (Lk 22:19) --- and at that moment, the woman sitting across the aisle from me stood up, turned her back to Jesus, and walked away.

We want to understand everything, and think we do.  We want to be in control.  Perhaps it was just me wanting to be in control, but after mass I asked a woman who was staying to pray the rosary with a group to please add to their prayer intentions “those who turn their back on Him.”

I’ve written how I was called by God to go to Yugoslavia in 1987, a totally irrational thing, yet I was compelled to do it.  And God rewarded me.  That event opened my heart to what trust means, and gradually then to what love means.  It means letting go of self, my ways, my thoughts, and my control.  The Surrender Novena, The Prayer for Humility, and the words “Jesus, I trust in You” are hard prayers to not just “say”, but really “pray” from our hearts talking to Jesus, the God of all creation, to tell Him sincerely those things, and to mean them commitedly, even when --- and especially when --- it is hard.  When it is hard to accept; when it is hard to believe; when it is hard to love that much, those are the times for faith, trust.  That is when we be, who He died for us to be.

When He said “you must eat my body,” many said this is hard and left him.  The Jewish leaders said if you are the Messiah, work miracles for us, and later “come down from that cross and we will believe.”  Oh, I can imagine how they’d believe.  They’d put him in a cage and take him to the temple to do tricks for them, like an animal.  And they’d be as Gods --- only not humble ones, not at all.

They’re no different from many in our country today.  Nothing matters as much as they control everything and everyone.  We saw previews in Nazism and communism, and now the “self” view has spread here.  A man I greatly admire asked: What is the opposite of love, as Jesus said: Love as I have loved:  He said it is not hate, because Love, as Jesus asked us to do, is a total giving of self.  The opposite of that is a total taking for self, narcissism.  It is total love of others or total love of self.  Things have to go the way we want them, or we walk away.  And as that person at mass today, we turn our backs to God.

But the story doesn’t end there, thankfully.  Like the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Father waits for us to return.  He waits in Love because He is not a God who works wonders to glorify Himself; He is a God who is totally loving.  And if we could just believe Him, even when things seem hard; if we could just love as He showed us how to love, He is waiting for us at the gates of heaven, the doors He opened for us to enter the heavenly banquet.  We just need to don the wedding garments, which make us look like we belong there, and enter.  We don those garments when we do as He said and “love others as I have loved you. “   

Review: Return of the Prodigal Son

 

The beginning of this book tells how the author, Henri Nouwen, first saw Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son and his return home.  “It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.”  He bought a copy, and it impacted him for his remaining years.
The book is divided into three sections, The Younger Son, The Elder Son, and The Father.  Nouwen promptly begins relating the painting and Jesus’ parable to his own life, and to God the Father.  And ultimately, to his own earthly father.  His story becomes very personal at times, and he perceives many new insights.to the parable, his own life, and to Rembrandt’s life, who was old when he painted his perception of the parable told by Jesus.  
When Nouwen begins on the elder son’s story, his analysis becomes intense. “Unlike fairy tales, the parable provides no happy ending.  Instead, it leaves us face to face with one of life’s hardest spiritual choices: to trust or not to trust in God’s all-forgiving love.”   Nouwen tells how the painting (and God) inspired him “to claim my own God-given sonship.  For the first time in my life, I told my father explicitly that I loved him and was so grateful for his love for me.  I said many things I had never said before.”  (On a personal note, I could have written those words.)
Over years, Nouwen perceived many insights from Rembrandt’s painting, like how Jesus could be seen as a prodigal son, leaving His Father’s house which contained the utmost love, to come to live with us, in this pigsty.  He then goes back to the Father Who was waiting with open arms, and opening the door for us, prodigal sons as we are, to follow Him.  Nouwen also concludes that Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son and Rembrandt’s painting leave open a “what’s next?” question.  Nouwen gradually perceives that a key point of the parable is the unsaid assumption that now both sons will grow up in the father’s house, to become fathers themselves, just like we are called to come home to the Church and grow to become like the Father in heaven.
This is a magnificent book to slowly read and pray on in the Adoration Chapel, while having a sincere discussion with God about our lives.  Most especially, I believe, this book will impact the hearts of elderly people, like me.
I have many underlines and margin comments I wrote in the second half of the book.  I will treasure it always.