And I Realized This was the Wrong Place

"One large cheese pizza."

"Ten minutes."

Sticking in the snow, a flag waved "Open."

The man behind the counter said "Hello."

"I called ten minutes ago for a cheese pizza?"

He smiled and said, "fifteen minutes."

Mmm...I thought; on the phone he said ten.

I sat down and watched the news on their TV.

He turned the oven on and walked in back,

soon he came back with a white bumpy circle

and opened the oven door and gave the doughy

circle a shove that sent it well inside the heat.

The news was the same old and I was bored.

I picked up a menu and stared at he cover...

My eyes grew wide reading the name

on the front;

Knights of Malta

Last night I ran into a Knight of Malta.  He explained that the Knights of Malta originated during the crusades as an organization dedicated to help Christians.  They founded a hospital to provide care for the sick and poor Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  But when more and more pilgrims were killed and harrassed on their journey, they felt they had to protect them.  They then became a military order.

Their patron is St. John the Baptist and their patroness is the Blessed Virgin Mary with the name "Our Lady of Mount Philermos."  Their symbol is a Maltese cross.

Nowadays, they are known primarily as the group that take the sick to Lourdes.  And they do it for free, too!

BTW, pray for Craig, a Knight of Malta, he has been diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils.  May Craig, who himself shows compassion to the sick, feel the love and comfort of Our Lord, and a healing if it be His Will.  Mary, Our Lady of Mount Philermos, and St. John the Baptist, interede for Craig in this hour of his need.  Amen.
     

Rejection = Opportunity

My niece is applying to college.  Of course, she's been rejected here and there.  And it hurts.  We all know that.  You can't be human and not get hurt at some time.

It didn't help to tell her to look at the rejection letter as an opportunity to narrow down her prospects--"Good, now I can focus on other schools."  No more than telling yourself when you're fired, "Good, I hated that job anyway."

It still hurts.

But it is an opportunity.  It's an experience that you need to feel.  You need to feel rejected to learn how to handle it.  You will live through this.  The sun still shines.

Kick the dust off your sandals and move on.

Good is Not Equal to Evil

CRAZY! Crazy Weekend.  Since my nephew's accident, life has been discombobulated.  There is no

end to the paperwork.  Police report, insurance reports, rental car report, and the hassle of telephoning the proper people, have used up all our family time.  The accident spoiled our fun time.

But wait a minute!  We're Christians and if that means anything, it means life makes sense.  Let's ponder the accident.  After all, we know that joy and suffering are related.  What is God's plan?

No one was seriously hurt.  Everyone is alive.  That's the best result.  We have a renewed appreciation for our lives.  As a family we bonded in trouble, which would have been completely different if we were bonded only in fun.  We figured and worked out difficult situations like how to get a rental car delivered when they weren't open, or there weren't any companies in the area.  We made do or we did without.  We felt a sense of accomplishment.  We learned that five big people can fit in a two door coup--albeit squashed.  We learned to laugh at the predicament.

Best of all, we learned that good trumps evil.

An Accident

Wait till I tell you what happened!  Disaster, that's what.  My nephew and his family were on their way to visit me and a few blocks from my house, they were hit by another car.  He was crossing the intersection and WHAM!

Here is a picture of the car.  Remarkably, he was the only one hurt.  He never saw the car coming.  All he saw was the car coming into his car.  The air bag on the side protected them.  Most of the damage, as you can see, happened to the back.  My niece was there.  Her glasses went flying off and a pierced earing popped out of her ear.  That's it.


My nephew couldn't move.  He thought he was paralyzed.  His side hurt and he worried that he broke a rib or ribs and punctured his spleen.  Help came immediately.  He was lifted out of his vehicle and placed on a back board and brace and taken by ambulance to the hospital.

He's back with me now, and everyone is fine.  Thanks be to God.

Prayer of St. Catherine of Siena to the Precious Blood of Jesus

Precious Blood, Ocean of Divine Mercy: Flow upon us!

Precious Blood, most pure Offering: Procure for us every Grace!

Precious Blood, Hope and Refuge of sinners: Atone for us!

Precious Blood, Delight of holy souls: Draw us!  Amen.

We are Still Kingdom People

This morning's reading from Peter 3: 1-17 was confirmation for yesterday's post on turning the other cheek, blessing people instead, acting like Christ.

In summary, then, all of you should be like-minded, sympathetic, loving toward one another, kindly disposed, and humble.  Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult.  Return a blessing instead.  This you have been called to do, that you may receive a blessing as your inheritance.
...You must turn from evil and do good, seek peace and follow after it, because the Lord has eyes for the just and ears for their cry; but against evildoers the Lord sets his face...If it should be God's will that you suffer, it is better to do so for good deeds than for evil ones.

What does all this mean to you?  To me, it means "suck it up."  Be strong in being the better person.  Don't act like a child--tit for tat.  Offer the hurt up to God like Jesus did on the cross.