Appendicitis and Faith

Tonight I attended a Christmas party. (I was obeying the rules to having a stress free holiday and avoided the food table.) I was engrossed in conversation with a friend that I haven't seen since the summer. She was telling me that she almost died. She had a ruptured appendix. She's in her 60's. Do you know the same thing happened to me, but I was twelve? It's not only the fact that we were misdiagnosed but that we'd been having symptoms for about a year and had just ignored them.

It occurred to me that our souls are like a bad appendix. If we don't go to the doctor when we are sick, how can we be healed? If we don't receive the sacraments, how can our souls be healed? If we ignore symptoms, we will be ill. We may even die. If we ignore the sacraments, our faith fades. Our faith may even die.

...O that today you would listen to his voice. Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof... Psalm 94 (95): 89.

How to have a Stress Free Holiday

I went to another Stress Class today. It was called Holiday Survival. Some of their suggestions are useful. Here are some that will work for me.

1. Don't go to a party hungry. I use to not eat all day because I was going out to eat. But if you're watching your weight, then eat good food before you go out so that at the party you'll be too full to eat junk.

2. Don't stand around the food table. Distance yourself as far away as possible.

3. Don't forget to keep up with your exercise program. Besides keeping calories in check, it regenerates your spirits and is overall good for your physical and emotional help.

4. Get organized and stick to it. Shop online. Shop early. You don't have to wrap every single present. The cat doesn't care.

5. Get plenty of sleep. Not enough sleep makes you grouchy and depressed. Nobody feels like doing anything in that foul mood.

6. You don't have to send out Christmas cards. If you do send out cards, you don't have to write a letter in each one. People who are late and send out their cards after Christmas, do that to assuage their guilty consciences.

7. Be mindful of the season, each day. Enjoy the moment.

8. Don't waste your time blogging.

Say Thankyou to a Soldier Thanks to Xerox

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING NICE!



If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and

Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick

out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!

It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?

Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you.

Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do.

We can never say enough thank you's.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Where are you?

Think about the part in the Genesis story where God calls out to Adam. Genesis 3:10-11 Just think about that for a minute.

Wow. God came looking for him. And God comes looking for us. Always. He never gives up on us. My cloistered brothers are very thankful that God doesn't give up on us because they were hard to find. You can run, but you can't hide from God.

The poet Francis Thompson describes it in his poem,

The Hound of Heaven

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Mmmmmm.............

My experience has been different. God's pursuit of me wasn't so relentless. He was always there and every once in awhile (when I needed it) He'd bug me. God is more like a cat, than a dog.

Apology to Francis Thompson

I sought Him, up all night and up all day.
I sought Him, all my sinful life.
I sought Him, through the academic maze,
professional cubicles, and children's strife.

I looked for Him, I reached out, I touched,
across the land, I held tight,
the gentle breeze of His approach
would calm my racing heart at night.

No hound of heaven; rather playful kitten,
scratching at the door--not to be ignored,
circling feet, rubbing, caressing, tail high.
Alack! You have always been my Adored.

Black Friday

It's a tradition. My two daughters and I go Christmas Shopping, the day after Thanksgiving. We get most of it done, too.

This morning found us up at 4:00 AM. We threw our clothes on and ran out of our respective homes, and raced to our meeting place. It's a contest to see who's first. It's a disgrace to be last because that would mean you were a slacker, and couldn't get up. I thought I was last because I underestimated how long it would take me to get to the mall. Plus, I wasted a lot of time waiting for the light to change at Lafayette House. After waiting for a maddening long time for a traffic light, it occurred to me that I was stupid. What was I waiting for? It's 4:30 AM. I did not see another car on the road since I left home. What was I waiting for? So I went through the traffic light. Whew! No sirens followed me. (I was edified to see that on my home the traffic light was completely, off. So it wasn't such a breach of the law.)

I was the first one there at 4:34 AM. Where were those slackers? They came immediately, after. I love shopping early morning. And I hate shopping. But there's something about the excitement, about the camaraderie with the other shoppers, about the great deals!!!

The mall was not mobbed. The stores that were open had lots of shoppers but the waiting in line wasn't bad. Like I said, the camaraderie made it fun. While waiting to check out, people got to know one another, helped others find the best deals, offered suggestions, and joked. Walking inside the mall was eerie in a fun way. It was too early for most of the stores to be open, so the inside was kind of dark. Everyone you passed said good morning and was smiling. People made fun (good natured teasing,) of the sleepy cop yawning at his post.

The girls hand picked what they wanted for Christmas from me. They also helped me buy for their husbands. I helped them buy for their father and brother (and me). We just about finished ALL our Christmas shopping. We definitely made a big dent in the Christmas list.

Lastly, the three of us go out for breakfast. We order big hearty breakfasts and lots of tea and coffee. After all, we worked up three appetites. My pedometer told me that I walked 4677 steps.

Those who think we're crazy just don't know what they're missing.

The slackers!

Now I just have to bake cookies and make fudge.

Interesting New Blog

Have you ever heard of "postmodernism?" I just read about it on a brand new blog. The blog is operated by a Lay Dominican exploring all the aspects and effects upon society by postmodernism. Bob, the blogger, is interested in the theological view.

Take a look and see how he defines: relativism, secularization and of course modernism and postmodernism. This blog will be interesting.

Postmodernism is not a once-and-for-all philosophical construct. It does not begin at the end of modernism but runs concurrently from its first proposals to the present time. How postmodernism affects one area of human endeavor in one decade may not affect another until later decades. However, I believe that postmodernism has a natural evolution within the spectrum of human endeavor. ... Postmodernism, as a whole, ran concurrent to modernism which reached politics in the 1910s to the 1940s where both Communism and National Socialism rose to power.

I'll try to keep my comments on the blog relative to his definitions and their explanations. Independent thinkers welcome.

Turducken

It's Thanksgiving. Did you ever hear of a Turducken? It's a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.

There are many stories regarding its origen, but it does seem to originate from the south. It's made by deboning the three kinds of fowl. Lay them out flat. You stuff the turkey with pork stuffing. Then you place the duck over the stuffing. The duck is open so that you can stuff more pork stuffing on the center of the duck. Finally, you take the chicken, spread it out over the suffing of the duck. Stuff the chicken with cornmeal stuffing. Then wrap the whole thing up and sew it secure. Bake.

When it's done you cut it right down the middle to open it up and see the many different layers. It seems that this is not so unusual--to stuff a bird inside a bird. Medieval cookbooks have recipes of birds stuffed with birds and other animals.

Hungry yet?