Summer's over

Under a dark morning sky dotted with twinkling stars, the cool air rushes over my face and I breath in the smell of autumn. Finally the miserable South Texas summer is over and fall weather has arrived with the most beautiful fresh mornings, magenta sunrises, high wispy white clouds, and a light breeze out of the north.

I imagine this is what heaven must be like…without the hay fever… of course.

For the last two weeks I’ve watched the snowbirds heading south to the Rio Grande Valley where they will nest for the winter. Each morning as I pedal my way to church I observe the Wal-Mart parking lot cluttered with motor homes and travel trailers belonging to the endless migrating flocks. Imagine how unbearable it would be if our weather were like this the year around. The tourist would be so thick you couldn’t stir them with a stick.

So, maybe, those agonizingly hot summers do have an upside. They keep the tourist at bay and also remind me that I definitely do not want to spend the next life in a hot place.

There is something intuitively apparent about it, the autumn mornings, something that tells me that there has to be a God, a wonderful powerful God to have put all this awesome beauty together.


Thank you, Lord Jesus,

For autumn mornings, and hot summer warnings.
For antihistamine, and fields of green.

For Your promise and pain, all to my gain.
For blessings and gifts, that constantly lifts.
In an effort to please, I fall to my knees
For You are the One, who gets the job done.

Amen.

Comments from Malta

Father Tito's comments are always insightful. Here is what he write from his home in Malta. May God Bless him... for he is a friend of God.

Who can understand God. All we can hope for is to be one of his friends and that is not easy, due to the fact that it is different from human friendship. God has to take our heart and transforms it to his own likeness, and that's not easy. It takes a life time and we will never understand how God in his foolishness chooses human beings and begs them to be his friends. Often we never think of God being our friend. Because his friendship is not human friendship. Love Fr. T

A Foolish God

Blind faith must be a wonderful gift. My blind faith is constantly peeking through one eye trying to see the “how” and “why”. To me it all seems like such foolishness. The three persons in one, the being born to a unwed teenage girl, the dying a horrible death, the bread and wine, the body and blood thing…all of this makes no sense…and why? I can put no logic to it. Yet…I can put no logic to the numerous little miracles in my life that have warmed my heart and confounded my brain.

For me nothing in this world makes any sense unless it is looked at through the foolishness of God, the foolishness of love.

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Corinthians 1:25

Therefore I must conclude that if God is God he can do whatever he wants…even if it does not make sense to me. Thank goodness for a foolish God.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for blind faith. For it is by faith I am allowed to accept your love and look forward to the promise I have in YOU. Amen.

Scribbling

As I stare at the tiny flame in the red glass beside the tabernacle and I realize that I can’t write, I am not a writer…I am just an inept scribe, a scribbler of thoughts…thoughts God puts in my head. My job is to bring the pen and paper…to make some feeble attempt at recording the thoughts and feelings he puts in my head and heart. A busy summer has made me lax in my scribbling. I have not taken the time to sit down…get quiet…I have not taken the time to be alone with you Lord.

Give me the thoughts you want me to think,
Give me the knowledge to put them in ink.
Give me the wisdom to bring the pen,
And give me the heart to do it again.

Amen.

Stepping Over The Line

I went to bed with a heavy heart and an awfully sick empty feeling. One of my grandsons who spends a lot of time at our house has grown extremely familiar with my generally “whatever” attitude about following the house rules that my wife has placed in effect. Last night…He stepped over the line. After she told him…he was not allowed to play his violent and disgustingly brutal video game that day…I observed him doing just that. I gave him a one-minute warning to stop before I would turn it off. To which he responded, “as soon as I am finished”. At the end of the one-minute warning period…I turned off the power to his X-Box, which ignited a volcanic response. In one motion I grab him up and pinned him against the wall, explaining that breaking rules leads to irreversible consequences…many of which are extremely painful. After a “Yes Sir” response to the question “do you understand?” I released him. Apparently, that got his attention.

I prefer being the grandfather not the father. I fancy the warm fuzzy feel of being best buddies not the haunting responsibility of being a conscientious father, trying to raise up a God fearing child. I can only imagine how our heavenly Father feels when I step over the line. It really hurts and there’s no getting around it.

Forgive me, Father God, for ignoring your rules,
Even if done by scores of fools
I think now, I get it, through Your life-skill schools.

The choice to love can break a heart,
I must admit I don’t like that part,
But all in all, I think it’s smart.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the lessons learned,
Thank you for a grandson spurned,
Thank you for Your love…unearned.

Amen.

A Near Miss

Our shopping carts crossed paths, in what pilots refer to as a “near miss”. We almost crashed somewhere in the produce section near the apples and oranges. I spoke a one-word apology and as we exchanged smiles I felt a definite electric tingle pass through me. She was not the typical Wal-Mart shopper…she was stunning. Tall and slender with a classic pixie hairdo and wearing a red and white floral print sundress that left no doubt she was female. She was a perfect picture and I surmised she had the power to jumpstart anyone’s imagination.

Dumbfounded, I continued to gather groceries…then spotted her in the poultry department, later on aisle 5 and finally at the far check out counter. All the time I am thinking I should say something clever or pay her a nice compliment. Fortunately, I could not think of one intelligent thing to say…other than “Duh….”

I worry that somewhere deep down inside my soul that it is the devil making eyes at me. But, on the other hand I get the same electric tingle when I see a shiny classic car…like a 57 Chevy with lots of chrome, a West Texas sunset or newborn puppies.

Thank you, Lord Jesus:

For all the beauty You have made.
For the price that You have paid.
For so much more than I deserve.
So, Lord, teach me how to serve.

Amen.

I Miss Her

I miss her not being here…but I understand she needs to be five hundred miles away at her mother's. I am glad she is there…with her mom…holding her hand.

Each day I read her emails on the status of my mother-in-law chronicling the use of supplemental oxygen, the new “hospital” bed, the wheelchair, the edema, the restless waking at night. When I read between the lines I can feel the worry and anxiety of my wife. Each day we are one day closer to the inevitable…one hundred and three years, five months, nineteen days and counting. I can only imagine that it is as painful as giving birth. Like the labor pains, each day is an emotional and physical challenge. It is painful but will be worth it. The end result will be as joyful as a new birth and in some strange way will be a birth into eternal life…a joyful life indeed. All the tears will be wiped away…all the pain and heartache gone.


So for this I pray

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

if I die before I wake,

I pray for God my soul to take.
Amen.

Bad Habits?

We’re all creatures of habit…so…be careful with whom you hang out. It all starts innocently enough with those people. You begin hanging around those who hang out at church. The first thing you know, you’re hanging out at the same places. Then you start going to an occasional Mass. Before you know it you’re going on a regular basis. Then you find yourself showing up for daily mass, partaking of the sacraments, listening to the WORD, and on and on. Without realizing it you’re hooked. The mold is set…the die is casted. You’re caught in an ever-tightening spiral that sucks you in. You are helpless. You give up and you give in.

Dear Lord Jesus;

I know it’s been a long, long fight,
It didn’t happen over night,
But I’m so glad I finally caved,
Thanks to You I‘ve been saved.

Thanks for all the people sent,
Who knows where I would have went,
But now am hooked from above,
Addicted to Your awesome love.

Amen

Bad Choices

To my beloved grandson;

Cameron, Please forgive me. I was wrong making you choose between playing your X-Box and going to church. After returning from Sunday Mass I realized that God never forces anyone to love him. It’s a free choice and the choice is entirely yours. Regardless of your choice God will always love you and I will always love you.

But believe me it really hurts to see you making the same mistakes I made as a child. Those choices have consequences…I can assure you…the consequences are not fun.

So…words to the wise…learn from others mistakes, don’t make all the same old mistake I did.

Love always
Dado

Dressed Up

I dressed up in my Sunday suit…actually my only suit…white shirt and red tie. As of late, I’ve been wearing this same outfit, each and every Sunday. This is all part of a new strategy, a new and long-range strategy. While I am a bit uncomfortable I feel the sacrifice is well worth it. My plan is to wear the same suit every Sunday and then on Judgment Day…in an attempt to be recognized. For nothing would be worse than receiving the “Depart from Me, I never knew you” speech. At a minimum, I’m hoping for “Don’t I know you?” or “Where have I seen you before?” So I might answer “Yep! That was me, at your Fathers house." I think the plan might work. There is a method to my madness.

These days wearing a suit to Sunday Mass definitely makes you stand out. I am even considering sitting in the front row. I need to take advantage of every opportunity I can.

Actually, I am counting on a lot of forgiveness and God’s infinite mercy.

Perhaps I need to reconsider my actions when I am not wearing the suit.


Dear, Lord Jesus,

In this world of grand, to be a Dapper Dan
It is the clothes that flatters
It’s often said, that when you are dead
There’s nothing more that matters.

But when standing alone, before the throne,
I question this worldly notion
As I face my wrong, without one stitch on
It seems a foolish potion.

If ever my needs outweigh my deeds
This would be the instance
For this is the place, for God’s mercy and grace
And I accept with no resistance.
Amen.