WHEN FROZEN AND ALL ALONE - 

WHO OR WHAT IS ALL AROUND YOU? 

Poem for October 11, 2014

THE IGLOO

Outside the igloo he waited

for an invitation to come inside.

There was no knocker, no doorbell.

He coughed, there was no reply.

He crouched down and peered in.

He felt the warm air from a fire

pat his cheeks and ruffle his hair.

Hello he said quietly and repeated it.

The frost in his toes urged him in,

so did the pain in his gut. His knees

one by one welcomed the snow

and brought him into the warmth.

He stood up and breathed deeply.

He held a foot up to the flames

then swapped it for the other foot.

He lay down on the polar bear rug

but a smell yanked him upright again

and led him to a dresser of  bone

where a bowl sat with a cover on it.

He lifted this to reveal dried meat.

He grabbed a chunk and tore at it

with his teeth. It was reindeer.

He devoured all that was in the bowl

and went looking for some more.

He found none, but there was a bottle

of firewater which he swigged.

He swigged again and left it down.

He lay on the bearskin and fell asleep.

©  Matthew Sweeney, Poetry Magazine – April 2014

THE ICE OF 
FROZEN HATE 

NEEDS TO THAW 
TO RAIN 

Poem For Today - October 10, 2014

FIRE AND ICE

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. 

© Robert Frost

OCTOBER DAY

Poem for Today - October 9, 2014

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE

FINE OCTOBER DAYS

It was one of those fine October days
free from summer’s heat and haze
but not yet gripped by autumn chill.

It was one of those fine October days
when the sky’s so clear
you can see the moon
through the atmosphere
at midday.

It was one of those fine October days
when the trees sport yellow and red
instead of everyday summer green.

It was one of those fine October days
when one draws a deep breath
and is grateful
to be resident on Earth. 

© Richard Greene

BURSTING BLUE 
SKIES ON ME 

Poem for Today - October 8, 2014

ONCE A CHILD

It troubled me as once I was,

For I was once a child,

Deciding how an atom fell

And yet the heavens held.

The heavens weighed the most by far,

Yet blue and solid stood

Without a bolt that I could prove;

Would giants understand?

Life set me larger problems,

Some I shall keep to solve

Till algebra is easier

Or simpler proved above.

Then too be comprehended

What sorer puzzled me,

Why heaven did not break away

And tumble blue on me.

© Emily Dickinson 

A ROSARY 

AS A  REMINDER 

INTRODUCTION

Today – is the feast of the Most Holy Rosary – so the title of my homily is, “A  Rosary as a Reminder.”

What’s your take on a rosary?

What does it remind you of?

Every time I see a rosary  around a rear view mirror in a car – I wonder, “What is the meaning of that rosary for that person in that car?” Safety? Putting all in God’s hands? A prayer now and then? Not getting a ticket – hey it might be a Catholic police officer? A reminder?

Last night I was watching a few innings of the Dodger-Cards baseball game.  Yasiel Puig, of the Dodgers, struck out 7 times in a row – and I notice he wears a rosary around his neck.  What does the rosary mean to him? That he’s a Catholic? That he wants an edge? That it connects him with relatives back home in Cuba? That it’s part of his cultural roots?

This parish makes Ranger Rosaries – and they are being used – by our men and women – in the service – all around the world. I assume bullet proof vests are better – but I also assume a rosary has a meaning for the person who wears a rosary around her or his neck – or has one in her or his pocket or pack – and prays with it in good times and in bad.

Every time I visit a funeral parlor – and if there is an open coffin – and the body is there – I like to go up and kneel down at the casket in the presence of the dead person. If they have a rosary in their hand, I like to put my hand on one bead – and say just one Hair Mary – and  unite myself in prayer with this person – who is in the hands of God  - and unite with all the rosaries this person has ever said and I ask God to bring this person into Paradise. I add: “Lord bless all these people in this space and place and in this world today.”

Whenever I pick up an old rosary – I wonder about all the thoughts and prayers – that are contained in each bead.

WHAT DO ROSARIES MEAN TO YOU?

What do rosaries remind you off?

What do they trigger for you?

Before coming back to the United States, I went into the interdenominational chapel in Heathrow Airport last Thursday afternoon to say a prayer.

I look for them in any airport or hospital I visit.

I’ve noticed the big airports often have Moslem Prayer Rugs on the floor in these chapels.

Sure enough – last Thursday there were two prayer rugs in the first section one entered.  I saw three people praying on the floor in the second section.

I stood there and said some prayers for safe flights – and a good life for all.

I see taking out one’s prayer rug as a reminder to pray. I also see taking out one’s rosary  – as a reminder to a person – that I am now entering into the space and place of prayer – in a car, in a church, on a porch, in an easy chair, in an uncomfortable seat in a plane, in the night.

The flight of life is a mystery.

The mysteries of the rosary get us into the life and moments of Mary’s and Jesus’ life – connecting them with the moments and mysteries of our life.

Life is loaded with annunciation moments – along with visits, births – presentations, loses and findings – along with agonies in gardens and hospitals, moments when we feel beaten – or have headaches, or crosses we have to carry and deaths we are dealing with. There are joyful, sorrowful, glorious and mysteries that bring us out of the darkness into the light.

CONCLUSION

Take out your rosary today – and remind yourself – refresh your memory – about all the mysteries and moments that make up the chain of your life so far. Say a whole rosary or a decade or just say a Hail Mary, an Our Father, a Glory Be or two – or just use your rosary beads to say 10 or 59 times, “Thanks” or “Help!”

Rosary beads are great worry beads as well as reminder beads. Amen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THREE NOTES:

First, painting on top - Old Woman Praying, by Nicolas Laurens.

Second, from time to time on my blog I stress, "Rosary beads are not just for Hail Mary's."  They can be used to say short one word prayers - or to come up with 59 people in our life - who we ask the lord to bless - or to come up with 59 moments in our life we loved - or using just decades for the 10 top books we've read, or 10 top moments of your life, or 10 top questions we have or what have you.

Third, I also have two E-Books or two series of meditations on the mysteries of the rosary. If interested, check October 26, 2007 and May 30, 2008.

A ROSARY 

MADE OF DAYS 

Poem for Today - October 7, 2014 

YOUR ROSARY OF DAYS

And I see you where you stand

With your life held in your hand

As a rosary of days.

And your thoughts in calm arrays,

And your innocent prayers are told

On your rosary of days.

And the young days and the old

With their quiet prayers did meet

When the chaplet was complete.

© Alice Meynell:

Soeur Monique:

a Rondeau  by

Couperin. (19th cent.)

Painting on top:
Rosary with Pomander
bu Barthel Bruyn
the Elder 9 (Circa 1493-1558)

IT’S  ALL  GIFT!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 27 Monday in Ordinary Time is, “It’s All Gift!”

Want to know one of the great secrets of happiness?

There it is: 3 or 4 words, “It’s All Gift.” or “It Is All Gift.”

Get that and you got a chance to have a very happy daily attitude.

It’s all gift.

FOR STARTERS

For starters, pinch yourself.

If you feel the pinch you’re alive.

And we had nothing to do with it: this gift of being alive, being me.

It’s all gift.

The gift of our parents embrace – our parents meeting each other – and their parents meeting each other – and in every conception – 250 million sperm in each moon shot – amazing.

One egg, one sperm, unless we’re a twin – and it’s me – conceived with their DNA and I’m on my way – entering into the great experience of life.

It’s all gift!

Making it to birth – making it to the bench you’re sitting in today – pinch yourself. You’re here. You’ve come a long way baby.

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

We open up the  Paul’s Letter to the Galatians today [1:6-12].

One key message we’ll hear from Paul as we listen to first readings from Galatians – is, “It’s all gift. It’s all grace.”

The Galatians had received the Gospel – the Good News about Jesus – but then they slipped back into B.C. – Before Christ.

All men who wanted to follow Christ had to be circumcised first.

All those who wanted to follow Christ had to keep the Law - the whole of the Law – to be saved.

The Law was like an accounting book.  If you do more good deeds in life than bad deeds – you are saved. Every time you kept the Law – you get a check mark for being good – sort of regardless of Christ..

The symbol of Christianity is not the scales – but the cross – the messy, messy, bloody cross – which tells us – we can be saved at the last minute – being a good thief and stealing the kingdom….. What a gift!

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel [Luke 10: 25-37] contains the great parable of the Good Samaritan.

It presents two men keeping the Law – a priest and a Levite. They were keeping the Law – rushing by a bleeding, hurting human being.  The foreigner, the Good Samaritan, not a person of the Law stops and saves the hurting human being.

That wounded person on the road was Paul.

Jesus stopped on the road to Damascus to heal Paul.

Paul got it – the gift of God’s life. He didn’t earn it. He just was gifted with it.

And he grabbed it – got up – and got moving.

The wounded person on the road is me – and Jesus stops to anoint and to heal me.

CONCLUSION

It’s all gift

-O-O-O-O-O-

Painting on Top: 

"The Good Samaritan"  

by Rembrandt (1630)