God's Sense of Humor

There is a bird in this picture.  It is because of a story of what a bird did, that I almost went off the road, laughing.  I was driving home and listening to the radio.  Mother Angelica was talking about her receiving an honorary doctor's degree.  The ceremony was inside a stadium of 2000 plus people.  Everyone was congratulating her.

She felt like she was constantly bowing her head and saying "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou,..."  The sister walking beside Mother Angelica kept touching Mother's arm or elbow.  "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou."  "What does sister want?", Mother thought.  "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou ,thankyou."  The sister kept pulling at Mother's elbow.

"What!"

"Mother, some bird did something on you veil!"

That's where I almost lost it.

So the two nuns went into a bathroom and tried to wash off the bird poop.  And it wasn't easy.

Ten minutes later, Mother is back working her way through the crowd (albeit soaking wet veil), "Congratulations."  "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou..."

What are the odds:  two thousand plus people, one bird?

Certainly God was teaching us through Mother Angelica, a lesson on humility.

Hope you have a sense of humor.

h/t to Kat, IC, and You Tube.

Ten "Rules" for Provincial Presidents

The following Rules  Suggestions are for the Provincial Presidents in the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic.  I think you'll find them useful.

Sit two candidates on a couch in the priory library.

If, when you come back (after spending time praying over your up-coming decisions), the candidates have:

+ counted all the books                                  make him Provincial Treasurer
+ organized the books by author/title/subject/etc.          make him Secretary
+ took the couch apart, bolts et al                 make him Director of Apostolic Ministries
+ centered himself in prayer                                  make him Director of Prayer Life
+ texted everyone he knows                                  make him Director of Community
+ wrote notes of the experience             make him Editor of the Province's Newsletter
+ memorized the CCC                                               make him Formation Director
+ took pics on his cell phone           make him Design Editor of the Province's Newsletter
+ caressed and drooled over all the books               make him the Province's Archivist
+ fell asleep                                                make him an Alternate

I hope you'll find Faith's Fallible Formulae helpful when assigning positions.

Going to the Dentist is Like Going to Confession

1. You pray before going.
2. You don't want to go.
3. You know you should.
4. You try to forget about going.
5. You make yourself go.
6. You prepare to go.
7. You prayerfully and patiently await the service.
8. You give thanks to God that's it's over.
9. You promise to do better.
10. You feel so clean and spiritually good about yourself.

Whew!  Deo Gratias.

Amen!

Book Club

What a day! This morning I had breakfast with the girls. This afternoon I went to Book Club. Tonight I went to Mass.

The Club went to see Linda's new home. It's beautiful and just right for her. She's an artist, so it includes a studio. We enjoyed it very much.

For this month's reading, we had chosen A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. We contrasted what our thoughts were when we first read it, and what we thought, today.

The most obvious change was how I felt about Katie, the mother. When I first read this book, I was about 18. Then, I thought Katie was mean and unfair. She obviously loved her son more than her daughter. And when she chose that the boy should go to high school, and the daughter go out to work, well that was unacceptable to my 18 year old mind.

Now, I feel differently. Katie worked hard, very hard. She did the best she could. I don't think she loved her son more. She just loved him differently. Perhaps, siblings don't see that, but as a mother, myself, I know that. And Katie was right about the boy going to high school. Francie, the girl was the strong one. She'd get her education. There was no holding her back.

There was something else that struck me now, that I never noticed in my teenaged reading. Francie made a bargain with God to save her mother from dying in child birth. An older Francie in reminiscing about that bargain, happened to say: "But now, she knew God better..."

Isn't that the truth?

As a child, I made a bargain with God to win a softball game. I promised to pray every prayer I knew, every night, for the rest of my life.

Well, we won.

But then, in the playoffs. I promised that if we won that, I would pray every prayer I knew, THREE times, every night, for the rest of my life.

We tied.

A loop hole?

Who said God doesn't have a sense of humor?