The Pessimistic Optimist

We're discussing whether the glass is half full or half empty.  If the glass is perceived half full then they considered you an optimist, and vice versa.  I didn't agree.  It's because I'm a pessimist, that I'm an optimist.  When I'm anxious about something, I turn my problem over to God.  But I know He doesn't give me anything I can't handle.  So I have something that worries me.  I handle it by imagining the worst that can happen.  OK, then I make plans to handle that worst scenario.  Once I have a plan in place, I can relax, because if I can handle the worst thing that could happen, then I can handle anything.

By the way, when I look at the glass, I always think, "Some bastard stole half my drink."

Failure

Failure is not the worst thing in the world.  Worse is fearing to try.  This platitude was in the forefront of my mind today, as I visited Boston's Museum of Science.  Looking at all the inventions and experiments, brought to mind all the failures that went into making one success.  It's something to think about.

This is a picture of me getting out of a space craft.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Two of my favorite blogs, that I check out just about every day is Michael Seagriff's Harvesting the Fruit of Contemplation and Christopher Smith's Christopher's Apologies.  Both bloggers are my confreres, but I would willing read their blogs every day, anyway.

Talking about blogs, today is Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival.  We bloggers link together at This And that And the Other Thing and share our week's posts.  This week I posted:

Sunday--The first thing I'm going to do when I die and see Jesus, is jump his bones.  But I'm in no rush to get there.

Monday--Matthew 20: 1-16a.

Tuesday--Book review

Wednesday--Riding my bike along Cape Cod Canal

Thursday--I went to hear the author of Jesus A Pilgrimage, speak.

Friday--Don't trust Main Stream Media.

Saturday--I went on retreat.

It's a busy week and I'm really on retreat so click yourself over to R'Ann's and do your own spiritual reading.

Lay Dominican Prison Ministry Initiative

The Lay Dominican Prison Ministry Initiative had a holy day today.  We gathered at the Connors Family Retreat Center (formerly St. Stephen's Priory) to have a day of retreat, sponsored by the Bethany House Ministries.  Members of three chapters of Lay Dominicans attended: Our Lady of Mercy Chapter, MCI Norfolk, Hope of Bethany Pro-Chapter, Norfok, MA, and the Community of the Resurrection Chapter from Casco, Maine, attended along with others who follow the spirituality of Father Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P.

The theme was advertised as "Holding Up the Mirror God's Grace in Action."  What this meant was to really look at our perceptions in looking at people.

We began with Professor John McDargh, PHD talking about his father telling him to watch out for the men in prison because they were bad men.  John's dad perceived prisoners as bad men.  But when John went to the prison, he found out that they were just people.  In fact, they were good people who chose to do bad things.

The second speaker was Father Wayne Cavalier, O.P., who talked about Father Jean-Joseph Lastaste's perceptions, and how they were changed, when he met the women in Cadillac prison.

The final speaker was Kathleen Dennehy, the former commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.  She gave interesting insight on the "inside" perception of inmates.  We also brainstormed some ideas on how to support prisoners and their families.

The location was spectacular.  I know this property very well, as it once was a Dominican priory--the place where I entered the Order.  Most of my spiritual formation was held here.  So you better believe what celebrating the closing Mass meant to me.  At this time of the year, around 5 PM the setting sun is in the perfect position to shine its rays upon the raised consecrated Host.  Father Wayne raised the Host in the sunbeams, twice.  Once to show up the Body of Christ, and again to show us His Broken Body.

Awesome!

Misconstrued Information

Don't you think the media has done itself in?  I'm writing about how it highlights pieces of a feature to get your attention.  TV news will do this.  The 5 o'clock news will announce some interesting news that it knows most people are interested in, only to say that it will be on the 10 o'clock news.

Months ago the media was a buzz about Irish nuns massacring babies found in a cistern.  Later the news had to apologize for misinformation. It makes me wonder how many people believed and heard only the condemning information.  I hope however, that as fast as bad news spreads, so can't good news.

Now it's the Pope performing wedding ceremonies with couples who admittedly were living together.

Oh horrors!  (sarcastic emphasis)  Think about it.  It's the job of the church to legitimize the relationship.

The bulletins the media chooses are sometimes laughable.  Are people stupid?

My mother taught me, as I was learning to read, "Believe half of what you read, and none of what you hear."

The Price of a Ticket

Tonight some friends and myself went to a lecture by Father James Martin, sj.  Father Martin is promoting his book, Jesus, A Pilgrimage, and that was the title of his talk.  He gave the human interest stories.  I, in particular, enjoyed them because his companion on the pilgrimage was Father George Williams, sj, whom I also know, and could just picture the two of them gallivanting through the Holy Land.

I bought the book, but I didn't want to wait in line for Father Martin to sign it.  There were two other strange occurrences tonight.  A man and his son sat next to us.  He did a double-take and asked, "Are you people from Franklin?"  He recognized us from church.  His son goes to Boston College, and that's where we all were.

The other occurrence was not a happy one.  We lost the ticket to the parking garage and had to pay an exorbitant price to get out.  But, if you consider that the talk was free, it was worth it.

I can't wait to start reading Jesus, A Pilgrimage.

A Bike Ride

It was such a beautiful day that hubby and I rode our bikes along Cape Cod Canal.  We could have gone on forever, with the wind at our backs, but riding back into the headwind was heavy going.  I could see the boats having a hard time with the wind and the strong currents.  A sign on the Sagamore Bridge gave me pause.  It read "No Wake 10 MPH".  How is a boat to go through currents running at a coefficient of about 100, with the wind at 30 kts.?

I marveled at the men painting the Sagamore Bridge.  They were way, way, up there in the wind.

Hubby and I came upon a man who was struggling to bring a big fish in.  It was almost half the size of the man!  His name was Danny and I took his picture and emailed him the photo.

We only biked bridge to bridge (Bourne Bridge to Sagamore Bridge).  It was a good workout because we really had to struggle riding into the head wind.

The Red Sheet

                                     

The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick is a book parents won’t want their teens to read.  But on the other hand, teens are going to love it.  The story reeks of teen angst.  There’s sports, “cool kids”, even a cool kid lunch table, bullying, sexual identity, and parent and teacher relationships.

The parents won’t like the casual profane language, or the sexual identity crisis. It's too racy.  But that’s real.  Kids do talk like that, and they certainly go through the same problems Bryan encounters.  Although I bet the teen readers will think the red sheet idea, lame, it won’t stop them from continuing to read, because the author, Mia Kerick hooks her readers.

The story is about Bryan Dennison waking up one morning feeling abnormally generous and kind, and having a weird desire to wear a red sheet, like a super hero’s cape.  Although this preposterous desire may turn you off, the author, Mia Kerick hooks her reader into wanting to read more, with her colloquial language and story line and true characterization.

Bryan naturally recognizes the fact that he can’t go around wearing a sheet, but he does stuff it into his backpack.  It’s a security blanket.  He needs it because he is embarking on a life changing adventure.

His character has changed.  He is a model of good behavior.  This would be fine, except Bryan also has no memory of the past few weeks.  He picks up from the kids’ reactions and comments, that he was a bully, a jock, and was an all-around selfish lout.  The reader wants to know the past, too.  Figuring out what the past involved, is the story.

Within the story are many themes, all involving relationships, parent and child, teacher and student, friends and former friends.  The scenes are realistic and written well.  In the end, everything is worked out.  The readers are lifted out of ordinary school life and forced to think.  Who’s bullied?  Is bullying dependent upon individual perception?  What role do friends play?  Do you think Bryan deserves a second chance?  Would you forgive him?  What do you think happens to the red sheet?

Mia Kerick’s novel absorbs the reader with a good story; it’s different and contemporary.  The characters could be considered corny or predictable, but that hardly matters.  The story is too engaging and carries the reader into high school reality.  The Red Sheet entertains and makes the reader, if not wear a red sheet, well at least, be a better person. 

Title: The Red Sheet 
Author: Mia Kerick 
Genre: Young Adult 
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press 
Release Date: February 20, 2014 
Format: Paperback or eBook 
Pages: 190 
Source: Tribute Books 

Available for purchase:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/BOOIJQS6KS

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-red-sheet-mia-kerrick/1118710756
Dreamspinner Press:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4725

The Author

Website: http://miakerick.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mia.kerick
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6474518.Mia_Kerick
You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a1Q093gJ1E
Blog:  http://miakerick.com/blog/ 

Author:

Mia Kerick's Web Site:
http://miakerick.com/Mia Kerick's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/mia.kerickMia Kerick's Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6474518.Mia_Kerick?from_search=true

Mia Kerick's YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a1Q093gJ1E

Mia Kerick's Blog:
http://miakerick.com/blog/

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New Insight

Father Wally was talking about Sunday's Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16a.  In discussion with my "cloistered brothers," I was given a new insight.  This Gospel about the landowner paying everyone the same, no matter how long they worked, used to incense me.  I even expressed my anger on another blog.  I knew that the parable was supposed to be encouraging, especially for my "cloistered brothers."  However, it was just unfair.  Tonight, however, someone asked a good question, "Why do you suppose no one hired these workers?"

I had never given that a thought.

Some answers were that these workers were too old to work.  Maybe they were crippled.  There had to be something wrong with them, or they would have been hired.

If these reasons were true, then that landowner did exactly what I would have done.  I would have been generous and told anyone complaining that it was my choice what to do with my money--exactly what the landowner did in Matthew 20: 15.

It's Nice to be Wanted, But...

As I was preparing the readings for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the second reading had much for me to reflect upon.  It's Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a.  I too, as Paul, am looking forward to seeing Jesus.  In other words, I'm looking forward to death.  But like Paul, I know that others need me.  So I leave it up to God.  He knows best.  I trust Him.

This morning, as I proclaimed this second reading, I thought of the Mass celebrant, Father Jack.  I bet he also is looking forward to seeing Jesus, yet we parishioners love and need him.  The Archdiocese of Boston needs him.

When you think of it, every Lay Dominican is in the same boat.  We are looking forward to meeting Jesus, yet as lay people, we have families and obligations that need us.

 The same could be true of all people who take their religion seriously, couldn't it?

Sunday Snippets -- A Catholic Carnival

What's your favorite prayer?  I've already blogged about mine, three years ago.  It's the prayer cried out in the slave markets of Alexandria, which was known as the Valley of Tears.  It's called Salve Regina or in English, Hail Holy Queen.  The words fit a drama queen, like myself.
     

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,

Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.

To thee do we cry,

Poor banished children of Eve;

To thee do we send forth our sighs,

Mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,

Thine eyes of mercy toward us;

And after this our exile,

Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving,

O sweet Virgin Mary.

℣ Pray for us O holy Mother of God,

℟ that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, thy Son,Our Lord.

Click over to my blogger friends' post, linked on This That And The Other Thing Blog, to see their favorite prayers.  We also talk about our week's post.  Here's mine:

Monday -- My first movie review

Tuesday -- A short story

Wednesday -- My answer

Thursday -- I was just bursting with Love.

Saturday -- The first question you should ask.

Thanks for reading.  Pray for me, as I do you.

When Did You Stop Praying?

Have you noticed that people you used to see at prayer group, or Ultreyas, or daily Mass, and you no longer see them, aren't as happy as they once were.  They just have a look of discontent.  After talking with them for awhile, you see why.  They stopped praying.  They just don't see with the same eyes.

When God walks with us (thru prayer) during our day, we see lots to talk (pray) to him about--the man with an angry expression, the child walking to school crying, the worried lady.  When we stop talking (praying) we don't look at everything in the same way.  That's not a good thing.  It will affect us negatively.  Most notably, we will focus and magnify our own troubles.

Let go and let God.

The More You Give, The More You Get

from M.K.  Pencil in the Hole

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of Your glory.  (This ejaculatory prayer is known as the Angelic Praise of the Most Sacred Trinity.)

More and more I see and understand that the more we people praise the Lord, the more we are aware of God's abiding presence.  And that causes us to praise Him more!

Besides, I myself feel my negative, sarcastic, and cynical self melt away.  It's like all negative thoughts drop the closer I become to God.

And it feels great!

I praise You Jesus for the grace of knowing You and for the anointing of the Holy Spirit that You have given me.  I praise You for giving me the spirit eyes to see Your presence in my life.  I praise You for You.  Thank You Jesus for loving me.

The Cross

"Why do you Catholics always bless yourselves so often?"

"We often make the sign of the cross to begin and end our prayers, because it's a sign to remind us of Jesus' love for us."

The Find in my Closet

One morning when I opened my closet door, my eyes were instantly drawn to a dress.  It was a dress I never saw before. 

“What is this?”   “How did it get here?”

I live alone.  “Where did this come from?”  I pulled out this navy, long sleeved, dress.  It had a pencil skirt, to the knee length I liked.  The neckline was jeweled.  “O-o-oh.”  I liked it.  “But this dress isn't mine.  Where did it come from?  Am I going crazy?”

I thought about this.  No one had recently stayed at my apartment.  No one had even visited me.  “How bizarre!”

I even opened the closet door a few times, just to check that my eyes weren't playing tricks.  The dress was always there.  And I was beginning to like it more and more.

“Would it hurt to try it on?”  I looked at the tag.  It was my size.  The name brand read, Imagination. “Humph—never heard of it.” There were washing instructions.  “Good.  I don’t buy dry clean only clothes.”   What am I saying?  I didn't buy this.  I know I didn’t.  I have absolutely no need to buy a business casual dress.  I’m retired. 

Well, no use arguing with myself, as I stepped into the dress and zipped up the back.  It was perfect—made for me.  As I turned myself around to see the back, in my full length mirror, I felt myself spin—faster and faster.

“Whoa.”  When I stopped, I found myself at a raised platform, addressing a myriad of people.  On the ceiling was a map of the world.  In the center was the North Pole surrounded by olive tree branches formed into a wreath.  This is the symbol for the United Nations.

There was a discussion about a proposal I just made.  I was proposing an idea similar to the Olympics, only it involved music.  Every two years, a country would host a musical festival.  Musicians from all over the world would be invited to participate.  Everyone seemed favorably excited about the proposal. 

The discussions continued until the meeting adjourned for the night. As I followed everybody to the exit, I was tapped on the shoulder and turned around and saw myself in the mirror. 

  

The entire UN venue disappeared.  I was still wearing the blue dress.  “What is going on?  This is crazy.”

Hurriedly, I unzipped and stepped out of the dress.  I hung it up and placed it way in back of my closet.  I don’t think I want to wear that, anymore.  “Do you think I should donate it to goodwill?”

My First Movie Review

This is my first movie review, and it's unsolicited.  I can't stop thinking about Cavalry, directed by John Michael McDonough, starring Brendan Gleeson.  Mary and I couldn't stop yakking about it, on the way home.  It embodies so much.  There's a lot to chew on.

We walked in when a man was in the confessional, telling the confessor he was going to kill him on Sunday.  So the movie takes you through the priest's week.  And what a parish he has.  Any pastor that thinks his parish is dysfunctional, has to see Father James'.  What a group!  They all disrespect their priests.  They're insulting and rude.

Father James has a milk sop for an associate priest.  I felt kind of felt sorry for him.  In fact, Father James loses patience with him and asks him why he isn't an accountant for an insurance company?  Everyone laughed at that line because it was so fitting.  I don't know why Father James treats him like that when you consider that he's kind to everybody but his associate.  He even tells him that what he can't stand about him was that he wasn't honest with himself.  Maybe he wasn't, but I think he was trying.

The movie actually was billed as a comedy.  It does have its moments.  But it deals with very serious matters.  I'm going to have buy this film when it comes out on DVD.  It is great material for discussion.

Sunday Snippets -- A Catholic Carnival

Here we sit again, surfing the net, and reading blogs.  As usual on Sunday, I'm linking up to the blog, This And That And The Other Thing. Go to it and read some other blogs; you're sure to find something interesting.  We bloggers are sharing our parish activities.

I am a lector.  I belong to the parish prayer group.  I also go to the parish book club.  I belong to two book clubs, one secular and one the parish's.  I'm the president of the parish's women's club.  I go to one of the parish's Bible Study.  We use the Little Rock Scripture Series.  I go to a different parish's Bible sharing, too, because as a lector I find it very useful to discuss the coming Sunday's readings; this parish does this, mine doesn't.  Also, in this other parish, I help with their Adult Formation, because my own parish really doesn't have any Adult religious ed.  In this other parish, I go to their Ultreya meetings, because again, my parish doesn't have one.

I facilitate RCIA in a local prison; that's my personal apostolate as a Lay Dominican following the spirituality of Pere Jean-Joseph Lataste.

In between all of the above, I managed to post the following this week:

Monday  --  Short story with a recipe

Tuesday  --  If I ever get a tattoo, it would be this one (Hey, you don't put a bumper sticker on a Lamborghini.)

Wednesday --  You should try this interrogation technique.

Thursday  --  Prove your love for God by pushing yourself to lecture about lust to an all male audience.

Friday  --  Praying for our country

Saturday  --  Postures for prayer

God bless.

Catholic Aerobics

A co-worker once complained that she went to a wedding in a Catholic Church and was so tired of kneeling, standing, sitting, and genuflecting, that she said, "Thank God I'm not Catholic."  I laughed this off and told her she could use the exercise.  (She could have, too!)  I explained that Catholics worship with our whole bodies.  We don't just sit and listen to a sermon.  

      When I think about it, I'm glad we Catholics have these different positions of prayers.  They help me focus and think about what, and more importantly, why, I'm in a certain posture.  Actually, the posture itself can be prayer.

      This is why I read with interest Father Joseph Briody's presentation to the seminarians in Boston's St. John's seminary.  I've copied and pasted it for you.

Adoring the Lord: Posture and Practice

Kneeling and Standing:  Because kneeling is probably the most distinctive posture, let’s look at it first. “Kneeling doesn’t come from any (particular) culture … it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God” (Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 185).  The New Testament is full of “kneeling” – the verb is used fifty nine times there, twenty four times in the Apocalypse, which presents the heavenly liturgy as model (Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 185).  Kneeling expresses adoration, the recognition of Jesus as Son of God, and it also expresses supplication.  As with all bodily gestures, it is “the bearer of spiritual meaning” (Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy, 190).  The act of kneeling or genuflecting affects the whole person.  Cardinal Ratzinger states that “the man who learns to believe learns also to kneel” (Ibid., 194). 

When we kneel or stand in the liturgy we look out from ourselves to the One who comes to us and draws us to himself.  This is very different from the lotus position or the sitting position of oriental meditation.  There “man looks into himself.  He does not go away from himself to the Other but tends to sink inward, into the nothing…” (Ibid., 197)  Kneeling and standing in the liturgy are distinctively Christian postures of prayer, as we are drawn out of ourselves and towards the face of Jesus Christ in whom we see the Father (Jn 14:9).  

Bowing low expresses respect, humility, worship, supplication and dependence on God.  Again it expresses “the spiritual attitude essential to faith.”  It expresses the truth of our being.  Monsignor Moroney referred to this act and spirit of bowing low before God in his opening Rector’s Talk, when speaking of the Supplices of the Roman Canon.  Check it out again on the Blog.

Sitting expresses attentiveness, receptivity, readiness and willingness to learn from Christ the Master at whose feet we sit.  And so we sit for the biblical readings, except for the Gospel which merits special reverence. On the other hand, other actions such as forms of dancing and applause are not part of the liturgy and are more on the level of entertainment, when we focus only on ourselves, our own closed circle and what is merely human.

At Mass: Sometimes there is some confusion over when we should genuflect or bow.  We genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament when entering and leaving the sanctuary at the beginning and end of Mass.  However, during Mass, we bow low to the altar because the altar is the focus during Mass. After the Consecration, the Body and Blood of Christ on the altar are the focus, and so we genuflect if passing or approaching the altar after the Consecration.  After Communion, once the Blessed Sacrament has been reposed in the tabernacle, the altar becomes the focus again and we bow low before the altar.  

Outside of Mass we genuflect before the Most Blessed Sacrament, when passing before the Tabernacle.  During Morning Prayer, if a server is coming to read at the ambo he bows low to the altar.  At Evening Prayer, because the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, a genuflection is made because at this point the exposed Blessed Sacrament on the altar is the focus.  Many people like to make a double genuflection during Exposition if entering the chapel late or leaving early.  This is commendable and praiseworthy.  However, if you are reading or serving during holy hour then asingle, reverent genuflection towards the Blessed Sacrament is sufficient.

Last year, a new tabernacle was installed and blessed in the college chapel of St. John’s.  This makes it very clear the Jesus Christ is the center of our lives here.  Everything we do revolves around him.  He is the living heart of our churches and our lives.  Pope Paul VI reminds us that the unique presence of “the Lord glorious in heaven” is made present “on earth where Mass is celebrated” and  

 …[T]his existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word whom they cannot see, and who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us. ( Paul VI, Credo of the People of God, 26)

Before the Blessed Sacrament our prayer could well be that of St. John Chrysostom.  He suggested that when we see the Body of Christ we should say:  “Thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes. (Cf. Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 144)

Praying for Our Country

How about this?  Every time you pass the flag of our country, you pray a Hail Mary for keeping our people in God's hands.  It is very appropriate to pray this prayer because Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron of the Americas and the United States is dedicated to Mary of the Immaculate Conception. 

Lust

Today's RCIA class was on the last capital sin, "lust."  It wasn't as bad as I feared.  I mean, think about it; I'm the only female in the room.  Everyone else was a "cloistered brother."  But of course, they were gentlemen.  I asked them how they handled chastity.

One said that whenever a sinful thought entered his head, he put his mother or his grandmother's face in the picture.  He would not like people looking at them, in a lustful way.

Another powerful thought was presented by 1 Corinthians 6:13-20.

Now the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?  By no means!  Or do you not know that he who cleaves to a harlot, becomes one body with her?  "For the two," it says, "shall be one flesh."  But he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit, with him.  Flee immorality.  Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been brought at a great price.  Glorify God and bear him in your body.

Lust doesn't think of the other person.  Lust is selfish; it is satisfying oneself.  It dehumanizes the object of the lust.  It has nothing to do with love.  When you love someone you want what's best for them.  Lust wants without regard for others.  Human beings are not to be used and exploited.

My "cloistered brothers" impressed me with their discussion.  

The Discomfort of Silence

You have to know where my "cloistered brothers" are coming from.  Their frame of reference in looking at John 8: 1-11, was something I had never considered before.

This is the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus bends down and writes in the dirt.  This was our discussion.  Nothing was proposed that wasn't heard of before, until one of my brothers suggested that Jesus bending down was a technique.  He was stalling for time. Everyone was quiet and wondering what He was doing.  During this time of silence, they had to be thinking.

This is an interrogation technique.  The police interrogating a person uses silence.  The interrogator will stare and wait.  The silence is uncomfortable.  Most can't stand it.

One by one, the accusers went away.  The more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable they felt and that drove them away.  

A Necessary Tattoo

I was telling my Bible sharing group about hubby's Atrial Fibrillation.  I also told them that while he was in the Emergency Room, I heard the same question asked of each and every patient.  "Do you have any religious or cultural customs, we need to know about?"  

So as Catholics, we should respond, "Yes, I'm Catholic, I'd like to see a priest for the Anointing of the Sick." Every time you are going to be given anesthesia, you should be given this sacrament. 

We were wondering how we would convey that message if we were unable to speak.  Then we came upon the perfect solution.  We should have tattoo on our chests, "Call a Priest."  The tattoo should be placed above our hearts because the hospital personnel always place the stethoscope or electrodes around the heart.  For sure, they would see the tattoo and get the message.

Pranking Grandma

I felt a tap on my right shoulder.

But when I looked over that shoulder, there was no one there.  Then I heard a giggle—a little girl’s giggle.  

And I knew that my four year old granddaughter was playing tricks on her grandmother.

I didn’t let on.

She someone tapped my right shoulder again.

Of course when I looked over my right shoulder there was no one, but this time I said, “Hmph!”

But I was prepared for the next time.  When I felt that little tap, I quickly grabbed those little fingers poised above my right shoulder.

“Got you, you little monkey, trying to fool your grandmother.”

She giggled and giggled.

“Do you know what happens to little girls who prank their grandmothers?”

No answer but a giggle.

“You have to help grandma make cookies and tap a thumb print in the middle of the cookies.”

And that’s how Thumb Print Cookies came to be.

Thumb Print Cookies

Ingredients:                                                                                         Directions:

·         3/4 cup butter, softened                                                     Preheat oven to 375 F

·         1/2 cup white sugar                                                             Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks.  Pour flour in bit by bit.

·         2 egg yolks                                                                           Take some dough and roll it into small balls.

·         1 3/4 cups flour                                                                    Put them on a cookie sheet.  Tap a thumbprint into the center. 

Sunday Snippets -- A Catholic Carnival

This week, my fellow Catholic bloggers and I, at R'Ann's site, are discussing Mass hymns. Unfortunately, music is not one of my gifts.  I think I have weak auditory perception since I have never been able to learn a foreign language (I grew up with Lithuanian spoken at home, I had four years of high school French,and two years of college French, and private tutoring before visiting France.)  Maybe, it's that, but the only music I like is happy, clappy, charismatic music.  So I love, absolutely love, the music my "cloistered brothers" sing.  R'Ann said that Amazing Grace is her favorite.  It's mine, too, but only when my "cloistered brothers" sing it.  They belt it out!  They bring the roof down.  They bring tears to my eyes. It's because they mean those words.  They have lived it.

Other hymns I like to hear them sing, are the ones they identify with, like Amazing Grace, I've been Redeemed, I'll Fly Away, and their special arrangement of the Gloria.  Wow!

You might like to read what my friends like too.  Click on over to This And That And The Other Thing Blog to read other posts.  As for me, I've been busy:

Sunday  --  Behind the Phantom Gourmet

Monday  --  Maire Bailly and Dr. Alexis Carrel 

Tuesday  --  Pop Quiz

Wednesday  --  A true story of my family's first night on our sailboat.

Thursday  --  A reflection on Luke 5: 1-11.

Friday  --  Complaining about hubby.

Saturday  --  Praying for hubby.

Life goes on.  My new granddaughter is being baptized today.  Sorry no pictures.  Her parents are very private.  But prayers to keep her close to God all her life will be appreciated.  Thank you.

Atrial Fibrillation

Lord, You're jerking me around.  Just yesterday, I was exasperated with hubby.  Last night, he ended up in the hospital, with A-Fib.  He's fine;he'll be home today.  But, Lord!  I get the point.  Please don't do that again.

He was watching TV when he came to me and said, "Feel my heart."

I did, and felt the beat race.

We locked eyes.  He said, "Let's go."

He was already in the driver's seat and I said, "You driving isn't wise."

With an incredulous look, he responded.  "You want me to have a heart attack?  Get in."

So that man You gave me as a husband, drove himself to the emergency room.

Thank you, Lord.  I trust in You.

God's Humor

Lord, you know that man You gave me for a husband, You were kidding, right?  Remember that time he was doing the shopping and he bought that jar of yucky pickles that no one in the family liked?  I mean, it took us twenty years to finish it because no one was eating it.  And when I asked him why he bought pickles that no one liked and it took us twenty years to eat.  His response was "I thought it was a good buy.  It lasted us a good twenty years!"

And don't forget the time I asked him for some sort of hook in the closet, to hang my bathrobe.  He was puzzled so I showed him the nail sticking out of the closet, which he used to hook the belt loop of his jeans.

"You want a nail?"

"No, I want something nicer--something better--something more special than just an ordinary nail."

You remember Lord?  Do You remember?  And his response

"Do you want a galvanized nail?".

OK.  See my point?  I mean, he is a love, but is he suppose to be my ticket to heaven?  

Freedom is Acknowledgement of Sin

"When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, 'Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.'"  This verse is the crux of the meditation in Magnificat, Sept. 2014, Vol. 16, No.7 issue, pages 64-5.  Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (before becoming Pope Francis) states:

From that moment on, Simon Peter never separates these two dimensions of his life: he will always confess that he is a sinful man and a fisher of men.  His sins will not prevent him from accomplishing the mission he has received...
...Thus, what follows from every sinner's conversion is mission: the desire that others may receive the same gift of forgiveness which Jesus has bestowed upon the pardoned sinner.  True conversion always entails an apostolic dimension!  It always means to stop focusing on one's "own interests" and to start looking after the "interests of Christ Jesus."

This is what Pere Lataste knew.  This conversion is the origin of Bethany.  As a Dominican Sister from Venlo stated in meditation:

It is not about being able to present a perfect self or a perfect conversion, nor a perfection confession, nor is it about being perfect. It is only about opening a little crack in our heart, for Him who desires to come into our heart. That is what conversion is: to leave the past behind; that is what Fr. Lataste meant!

And after that acknowledgement of sin, of dependence upon the mercy of God, comes the joy that cannot be contained.  One must shout it out.  One is forced to preach.  This is why Peter left his nets and went forth.  This is why the women from Cadillac prison left their shackles and spread the Good News.  You cannot hold back the Holy Spirit.

The First Will be the Last

We had planned a night on the ocean.  Yes!  Believe it.  Us!  A night lulled to sleep by the calming lackadaisical slap of waves hitting the hull of our new sailboat--the music of a distant buoy ringing antiphonally; a fog horn in rhythm with our dreams, and waking to the gentle alarm of seagulls calling for breakfast. 

This was to be a night to remember.  Our children would have wonderful memories of the family sleepovers on our sailboat.  We had just bought a 22 ft. O’Day sailboat and were anxious to start building those fantastic memories.

The family gear was packed, and after work we headed down the Cape.  The night was perfect—warm, full moon, the water looked iridescent.  We moor our boat, so the family waited ashore as Dad rowed out to the mooring.  Soon the boat was near enough for us to load our gear.

What now?  We decided to go out to eat supper and then go to the town’s band concert.  Isn't that a good family thing to do?  Well, supper would have to be “take out”, since we brought the family dog with us.  And “take out” was fine. We picked our spot on the lawn in front of the band stand.  We ate, played cards, and took a walk, until the concert started.  Everything was working out perfectly.

But back to the boat, was a different story.  The tide had gone out.  The sailboat was tilted over in the muck.  Such a sad sight!

So what?  We didn’t plan on doing any night time sailing.  We planned on sleeping.  But how to approach the boat?  Should we all stay on the side sticking up? 

We walked to the boat, as the smelly muck sucked our feed down.  The dog went and rolled in some dead fish heads, or something, and came back barking gloriously happy.  We threw a ball way out in the water so in the act of retrieving it, he was washing the stench off.  We hoped. 

It was terrible.  In order to stay on the high side of the boat we had to continuously hold on.  The darn dog still smelled.  Since he was now wet, salty, sandy, and still smelly, he constantly was scratching.  How do you stop a dog from scratching?  He also kept shaking himself to dry off.  We were hit with his flecked off water.

The temperature didn’t drop in the night. It was muggy.  And buggy!  The tiniest gnats came through the screens.  Our fingers ached from holding on.  We were hot, irritable, full of bug bites, sweaty, and tired.  No one got any sleep.

Suddenly, the boat moved. 

Ah.  The tide was coming in.  Soon all would be well. 

Think again.  The tide came in excruciatingly slow.  Shore walkers were gawking at us.  Some asked if they could help.  But what could they do?  We just had to sit and wait.

Once afloat, we motored out to Vineyard Sound.  We didn’t sail out because there wasn't much wind.  The sea was pretty calm, too—dead calm.

We thought it would be good to have breakfast.  I had brought everything--everything except eating utensils.  So there we were, taking a handful of Cheerios, a gulp of milk, and a bite of banana.  That was breakfast.

…a handful of Cheerios, a gulp of milk, and a bite of banana.

...a handful of Cheerios, a gulp of milk, and a bite of banana.

…a handful of Cheerios, a gulp of milk, and a bite of banana…

Lack of sleep did us in.  We felt  dirty, sweaty, salty, damp, and full of bug bites.  It was only seven in the morning and  we were sitting in the middle of the Sound dead still.  There was absolutely no wind.  The sun was blazing down on us.  We were sun burnt already, and the day hadn’t begun, yet.  We weren't moving at all—not even drifting.

We took a vote.  Everyone wanted to go home, except the dog.  And that’s the sad (yet memorable), tale of our wonderful, terrible, first, and last night, on the family boat.