Bwok, Bwok

Lying on the operating table waiting for the anesthetic to kick-in…gave me an opportunity to reflect on my life and ponder my future, my eternal future. 

I'm not saying I'm a chicken but I had to fight off the urge to cluck.

I’ll have to admit that going under the knife makes me take a serious look at myself and consider the possibility of death and what might lie beyond.  What kind of hypocrite am I?  Do I strain out the gnats and swallow the camels?   Do I really believe?  Do I actually practice what I preach?   

Oh!  You are done!  Thanks, Doc, for removing that tiny basal cell from my nose. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for these quiet times to think, to think about what is important.  Please give me the strength to put Your words into action.  Don’t let me chicken out.

Amen.

Blessed

Today’s first reading caught my ear…especially the last part.

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel……….. 
“I gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”


I couldn’t help but think of how lucky, how fortunate, how blessed I am to be born where I was born, in the place I was born and to the parents I was born.  I had no say so in the matter and could have been born in some third world country with flies buzzing about my face and a distended belly due to malnutrition.  Ok, Ok… I do have a distended belly but it is not from the lack of food…but quite the opposite. 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for all you have done for me.

Amen

Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders,  their judges and their officers.  When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: In times past your fathers, down to Terah,  father of Abraham and Nahor,  dwelt beyond the River and served other gods.  But I brought your father Abraham from the region beyond the River and led him through the entire land of Canaan.   I made his descendants numerous, and gave him Isaac.  To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.  To Esau I assigned the mountain region of Seir in which to settle,  while Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.  “Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and smote Egypt with the prodigies which I wrought in her midst.  Afterward I led you out of Egypt, and when you reached the sea,  the Egyptians pursued your fathers to the Red Sea with chariots and horsemen.  Because they cried out to the LORD,  he put darkness between your people and the Egyptians, upon whom he brought the sea so that it engulfed them.  After you witnessed what I did to Egypt, and dwelt a long time in the desert,  I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan.  They fought against you, but I delivered them into your power. You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them, the two kings of the Amorites, before you.  Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab,  prepared to war against Israel. He summoned Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you;  but I would not listen to Balaam.  On the contrary, he had to bless you, and I saved you from him. Once you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho,  the men of Jericho fought against you, but I delivered them also into your power.  And I sent the hornets ahead of you that drove them (the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites) out of your way; it was not your sword or your bow. “I gave you a land that you had not tilled  and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves  which you did not plant.” JOS 24:1-13

Works of Mercy

The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are all about taking care of the needy.  I marvel at my wife who spends so much of her time doing just that.  I consider myself blessed being married to such an individual and so fortunate that I am a very needy person.  Thank you, Mary Owen Jeansonne, for taking such good care of me. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for putting Miss Mary in my life.

Amen.

To feed the hungry

To give drink to the thirsty

To clothe the naked

To shelter the homeless

To care for the sick

To visit the imprisoned

To bury the dead

Table Scraps

Today’s Gospel (Matt15: 21,28) reminded this ole dog of how thankful I am for the scraps.  And I have concluded that the only place to be is close to the master’s table.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Because of the scraps

It is best…perhaps

If I may be able

To stay close to the table.

Your smallest crumb

Is the total sum

Of all in heaven and earth

‘Tis in You I find my worth.

Amen

Playground Closed

What’s up with daily Mass.  I sometimes I wonder why I go…for it seems I spend most of the time daydreaming or allowing the devil to get into my head.  I know that an idle mind is the devil’s playground and he has been having lots of fun swinging from the monkey bars of my mind…in spite of the posted signs "playground closed". 

But there always seems to be a moment during Mass…a brief few seconds that I get a reassuring chill or sensation of God’s presence and it is very real.  In that small brief instant I am at peace with all that he has promised.

Maybe it is not the act of going to daily Mass that makes a difference.  It is the difference it makes in the way I act during the other twenty-three hours and thirty minutes of the day…that’s what really matters.

So, I’ll try again tomorrow.

Dear Lord Jesus,

For this I pray…that I do not stray.

Please hear my plea.

Make not a monkey out of me.

Amen.

What Not To Wear

I never considered myself a fashion expert nor that I even had a clue as to what not to wear…but what I have learned about “dressing up” is from the women in my life.  My mother had a thing about clean underwear.  Apparently she worried about being in a car wreck and that the attending medical personal and/or possibly mortician would discover soiled underwear.  I never quite understood her logic…for it seems that a scary car wreck would soil even clean underwear.  Then there is my wife who taught me not to wear stripes with plaids, no camo and stay away from colors that clash.

I do know to dress up when I go to important events or visit important people.  I do know flip-flops and tee shirts are not formal wear regardless of what is written on the tee shirt or what color they are. 

I consider going to Church an important event and God an important person…actually three important persons in one. 

So…I will continue to dress up for Sunday Mass in spite of such comments as “Where are you preaching today?” or “what’s the special occasion?”   Yes…coat and tie is a little uncomfortable but not nearly as painful as a nail though the hand.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you did.

While dressing up may be off the grid.

In today’s culture of tees and flip-flops.

In my book You are the tops.

Amen.

Up In Smoke

My dream of becoming a famous writer seems to be nothing more that a tobacco less, pipeless and smokeless pipe dream. 

I have not written in months.  I wish it were writer’s cramp but I’m afraid it’s writer’s block.  It’s the blank sheet of paper that stares me down and fills me with doubt and uncertainty.  The thought of misspelled words, dangling participles and ending sentences with a preposition make me question why I should expose my ineptitude in black and white. 

It seems living and writing can be discouraging and disappointing but I must not despair…I must not give up.  Life would be totally hopeless if not for one thing…the promise I have in You. 

Dear Jesus,

Thank you; Lord, for doing it all.

Hold me up when I hit the wall.

Give me the grace not to fall.

You are my hope, my all in all.

There’s only one thing that is so true.

That’s the promise I have in You.

Amen.

St. Thomas Feast Day

Today was the feast day of St. Thomas…the apostle they called Didymus.  My parents bestowed that very name upon me…placing it between my first and last name on the birth certificate.  

“Doubting Thomas”…How did they know? How did my parents know that I was a doubter…a doubter who questions all the unbelievable mysteries, unexplainable coincidences and total illogical anomalies?  I doubt, I question.  How and why does God do what he does? 

Even though I have no proof…I have nothing I can prove in a court of law or test in a science lab but in my heart of hearts I know God is an unbelievable God.  And some how that makes perfect sense to me.

Circumstantial evidence...empirical evidence...who knows?  For me the verdict is in, the litmus paper test is done. 

Dear Lord

You are totally unbelievable

The evidence is inconceivable

I don’t understand

But you’re the man

The man who is my God

Amen

The Secret Is Out

My selfish self was flabbergasted when I heard the words from the pulpit. Now, everybody is going to know the best kept secret of all times.  The most colossal “Get Rich Quick” scheme ever…and they just blabbed it out in public. I can’t believe it…I had so hoped I was the only one who knew.

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

 “Brothers and sisters, consider this:

…..whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

....

for God loves a cheerful giver.

Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,

so that in all things, always having all you need,

you may have an abundance for every good work.”… 

“You are being enriched in every way …..”.

What I Want To Do I Do Not Do

I laboriously hauled myself onto the digital bathrooms scales after a lengthy weekend vacation of eating and napping only to see the LED readout flash the message “HEART ATTACK” in brilliant caution-orange.  With the taste of pork ribs, beef sirloin and grilled salmon still on my lips I vowed never to eat again. 

This calls for serious action…so I aired the tires on my neglected bicycle and paddled off into the morning twilight. In the humid seventy-seven degree air it did not take long for the heavy breathing to start followed by a clammy sweat.  It was as if that homemade coconut cream pie oozed from every pore.     

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  Romans 7:15