July 31, 2022

Homily

 July 31, 2022

Reflection

YOU HAVE NO IDEA

We were driving  to the funeral of an old nun. We were an interesting mix: three priests and a cook.

As we drove along, the cook, a gal named Maria, said at least dozen times, "You have no idea."

One of the priests - stationed in the rectory where Maria worked - started to kid her about her constant comment, "You have no idea."

I didn't work at that parish - nor did I know Maria - who she was and what she was like - but I began saying inwardly, "I have no idea who she was."

Did Jesus ever say that about his disciples and those he met?

Do married folks think that of their spouse at times?

Do moviegoers have any idea of what went on to make a movie?

Do they ever even think of that question?

I have no idea who the person in the movie ticket booth is.

Same for the toll collector on the Bay Bridge. I don't have E-PASS yet - so I have a 10 second transaction - and say, "Have a good day."

If we talked another 2 seconds - the driver behind us - will get reckless and restless.

I think that because I wonder about what I feel and others feel.

Can we communicate our thoughts and feelings?

I hope so.

Yet there is a whole lifetime of ideas behind every idea.

Every car ride connects us with other car rides.

Every conversation connects us with every other conversation.

No wonder some people say, "You have no idea."

 July 31, 2022

Thought for Today

"Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth  Symphony will remain."

Michael Bakunin [1814-1876]

Russian revolutionary and anarchist

of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

in Edmund Wilson To the Finland Station [1940]

 July 30. 2022

Reflection

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PRAY

A man came to me to see a priest - to see if I could help him pray better.

He said he prayed.

He told me, "Years ago I was visiting a friend of mine - a colleague - and the man was dying. He was laying there in a hospital bed and said, "I don't know how to pray."

Silence for a second. A long second.

I then said a low sounding, "Wow."

Then this man in added, "I never forgot that moment. I  said to myself, 'I don't want this to happen to me' - so I learned how to pray."

He came to talk to me about prayer at the age of 55.  I was 65 at the time. I was a priest and he figured I would know how to pray - and how to pray better.

I listened to him tell me about his prayer - about how the Our Father and its petitions were part of his thinking life.

He talked especially about the fourth petition: "Thy will be done."

Then he asked, "How does anyone know the will of God?"

He mentioned a talk he heard on the Our Father.  The speaker said, "Millions and millions of people say 'Thy will be done' - but they have no mind in the slightest to do anything in life but their own will.

And he laughed as he said that,

He went on to say that his family says grace before meals and they go to Mass on Sundays.

But I was intrigued above all about his desire to pray/

I said, "Well, turn your desires into prayers."

Then I said, "Turn your thinking into prayer."

I added that Saint Alphonsus wanted to get people to move from thoughts into talking to God  and with God.

It was getting late, so we said we'll talk another time.

 July 30. 2022

Thought for Today

"If someone claps his hand a sound arises.  Listen to the sound of the single hand!"

Hakuin [1686-769]

Japanese monk, writer and artist; 

founder of modern Japanese Zen

 July 29, 2022

Reflection

THE WALKERS

You see them everywhere: the Walkers.

Shoes, shorts, t-shirts, vision caps - a simple uniform.

Walking while talking to a friend - a buddy - a stranger - a spouse - catching up on the latest - while exercising, moving, cardiovascular fitness.

The mall, the streets, a country road, flat preferably....

Then there are the extras: cellphone. bottled water, Gatorade, the dog, the podcasts, earplugs.  What else?

Going nowhere in a hurry - going somewhere with health in mind ....

It's obviously better than just sitting - gaining weight, with snacks, while watching a football game, or the soaps, or what have you?

Then after walking for four months or four years or four times a week - one of us knows we know a lot more that when we started walking.

It just happens....

We're older, we're wiser, we're fitter. 

We've read t-shirts on others going by; we've heard tapes; we've heard about kids in far cities or at college....

We've figured out why a daughter said what she said. We've figured out why a husband did what he did. We're figuring out why God gave us seasons.

Go figure ....

 July 29, 2022

Thought for Today

"There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end.  He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it as. It was a fine compliment."

Jackson  Pollock [1912-1956]