July 28, 2022

Reflection

THE WORDS WE SAY

The words we say involve risk.

"I love you!"

"I'm angry at you!"

"Thanks for finding my glasses."

A lady came up to me and said, "That was the best funeral Mass I ever attended. Too many times the priest rattles on with words - and he doesn't seem to mean them."

Now every at Mass from now on, I better be attentive to my words and my actions. Now at every Mass I need to make sure I mean the words I'm saying.

Now will that lady when she goes to Mass compare that moment with other moments and Masses and how they went  - and then will she make going to Masses more difficult for herself?

The words we say involve risk for both the speaker and the person spoken to.

"How are you today?"

"Is anybody sitting here?"

"Can  I join you?"

"The word became flesh and pitched his tent here with us."

Jesus Christ came among us - and then after 30 years of age or so - he began walking and talking and doing with us - and then some folks began planning to kill him.

Words ....

We pick up the Bible and begin reading at our risk.

Danger! Challenges ahead.

"Come follow me."

"Forgive 70 times 7 times."

"Go the extra mile."

"Give that shirt right off your back - especially on cold days."

"Lord, I want to see!"

"Lord, I want to listen."

"Yes!"

"No!"

Words contain risks.

 July 28. 2022

Thought for Today

" If  God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

Si Dieu n'existait pas. ill faudrait I'inventer."

Voltaire

 July 27, 2022

Reflection

TREES

I was driving back home from St. John Neumann Church - listening to NPR Radio.

Some guy on some program was talking about a book he did on trees.  That was the theme.

Interesting ....

I missed a good bit of the interview - but what I heard called for follow up. I would like to see the pictures he put together for his book. I'd like to reflect more on what he was saying.

He asked if trees were a central metaphor for life. He talked about the brain, rivers, cauliflowers, family trees, roots, gathering evidence, branching out, etc.

I didn't understand what he was talking about when  he said something like this: "We took a piece of plastic and zapped it with a bolt of electricity. Looking at it,  you can see in the plastic the branching out of veins from the central hit."

Rivers have branches that break off or come together in their journey to the sea.

I was immediately hit with the central image of Christianity - the cross - the tree of life ... the tree of death ....

Lightning flashed that Good Friday.

Christianity branched out into the world.

Genesis begins with a tree. Take and eat.

Artists are influenced by artists. They form schools. They branch out - and on and on and on ....

Go back the other way and you go back to God.

God is a tree.

God is the great tree of life.

So maybe those who make fun of people who are concerned about trees and climate, should stop the mock. Maybe those who mock others as tree hugers - don't get metaphors.

Maybe everyone should go into the woods and study roots and branches.

Maybe everyone should sit under a tree like Sir Issac Newton.

Maybe everyone should sit on a swing and watch the world fly by.

July 27, 2022

Thought for Today 

"The poet is the priest of the invisible."

Wallace Stevens

Adagia (1957)

July 26, 2022

Reflection

AT HOME AND AT WAR:

MILITARY  MARRIAGES

I was listening to National Public Radio while driving home yesterday.

Someone was giving a report on the impact of the way in Iraq on a community in Kentucky.

Tomorrow they said they would talk about the war's impact on local business.

But today they talked on the impact of war on marriage.

How many feel, "Is it worth it to come home - get romantic - only to have to leave and head back to war again?"

How many feel, "Is it worth it to go through all the fears I felt when I wondered if you 'd make it home again - or whether you'd be killed and I'd be all alone. I didn't like it standing there waving goodbye the last time - knowing this might be the last time I'd ever see you?"

How many feel, "Is it worth it, to be the equivalent of being a single mom or dad with you gone away again?"

How many feel. "Is it worth it to have to deal with a different person each time you come home?"

How many say, "Is it worth it to be in a foreign country - driving down roads that might explode at the next curve?"

How many think about their kids? What about not having them there  - to drive them to the game - or the doctor - or to McDonalds?

What about the loneliness in the alone?

When will this end? Will I come home with the news I might be deployed again - and soon?

What do I do with mixed and twisted emotions - to be here and feel needed here - while at the same time I wish I was there - because I'm needed there as well?

Home front - or war front?

 July 26, 2022

Thought for Today

"You know more than you think you do."

Benjamin Spock

Common Sense Book

 of Body and Child Care (1946)    

[Later Baby and Child Care] opening words

 July 25, 2022

Reflection

THE CELL PHONE GUY/GAL

The cellphone gal - you see her everywhere.

You're with her and then she disappears - not dramatically - but you see her stand - reach into her pocket - take out a tiny phone - listen for a moment - and you watch her face as she's heading towards the far room.

You think he's at the meal - or the meeting - but as you're with him enough - you realize  he's really at another meeting - and the real person he's with is on a cellphone - in a far room.

The cellphone guy - you see him everywhere.

The smokers outside the building - at least have their fellow smokers - puffing and talking and making gestures - outside the building.

But the cellphone guys and gals seem to be alone,

Yet sometimes I wonder whether the cellphone guy or gal is with another. Or maybe they are waiting for another and this one just happened to call in this in between moment.

I don't know.

As I drive down the interstate - I look over to the car that's passing me. There she is - there he is - the cellphone gal - the cellphone guy.

We are all doing a lot of talking - but is anyone really listening to the other? 

Are we all waiting for the next call?

What did we do  before cellphones?

How did we miss each other in the past?

Maybe someday we'll all have a good conversation about all this - in person - or maybe that's what the cellphone guy or gal is talking about.