I Love Conversion Stories!

Like most Bible Studies, the one I lead doesn't always stay on topic. Things come up, people want to talk about this and that... it seems normal to me. Put a group of people together in one room they will undoubtedly share their own insights and experiences. That is part of why I enjoy my Monday night Bible Study so much. 

We've had a gentleman come to our Bible study a couple of times now. I do not remember what conversations led up to this but he asked if we would like to hear his wife and his conversion story.

Of course we did!

I will do my best to retell it here.

"My wife and I had been church shopping around for a while. This particular Sunday was cold and miserable so we didn't feel like traveling far. The last church in town we hadn't been to yet was St. Peters so we decided to go there. For as awful as the weather was there were quite a few people there, my wife and I thought. We found a place to sit and mass started. Well, the music was terrible, not to offend anyone who might have been there, and the homily was even worse. As the mass went on we noticed how everyone got up to receive communion. Returning home after mass my wife and I talked about our experience. We wondered why there were so many people there, on a miserable day, listening to terrible music and less than inspiring homily. It dawned on us that there people were not there for those things at all. In the end those things did not matter as much as what they were receiving there. The people were there for the Eucharist. After that realization we both decided the Catholic Church was where we needed to be."

Did I mention I love conversion stories? 

This one is so simple, but also so right to heart of the what the Catholic Church is all about. Receiving Jesus, His body and His blood is the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Bad music and bad homilies don't matter. We go to mass to receive Christ because we need Him. We also need to do what He told us to do, and He told to eat His flesh and drink His blood. 

Peace all

I Broke Down

I broke down

pushed to the edge.

How does she stay so strong?

Never ending bickering

 name calling.

Was there ever love?

What happened to it?

A comment here,

an outburst there.

Why?

What is accomplished other than causing us pain?

We are adults,

but I feel like a little kid.

I don't know what to do. 

Separate already

or grow up.

She doesn't need the added cross to bare.

You can spare us the pain.

Why won't you?

What can I do to make you see

the pain you cause?

I don't know what to do so I left.

I broke down.

For whatever reason my parents seem to just be getting on each others nerves.  My mom will make a remark, with very little compassion in her voice, and my father will lash back in anger. My father says she's lazy and she flashes back with name for him. 

I can't get the image of the hate in her eyes as she spewed out those four words. 

Getting to the kitchen table it was like everything was forgotten. All is okay...

All is not okay. 

I told my sister I would pray for her as I said goodbye. That's when I felt the tears coming to the surface. I pushed them back.

My mom heard me say it and had a look of disbelief and bewilderment. 

I got into my car and cried. Cried for my sister who has to live with them. Cried because I can get away, but my sister can't. She has enough burdens on her life. Why do they make it harder for her? Why does she have to be the constant mediator? Why can't they see the pain they cause? 

Maybe it's just me. My sister is the strongest person I know. Maybe she can handle it. But she shouldn't have to. 

What can I do?

I'm praying the Novena to St. Joseph. Yesterday, this awful day, I read how he is the patron of the family. I asked St. Joseph to pray for my family. Is that all I can do? Is that the best I can do?

I'm almost 27 years old. I can't imagine what this would do to a younger child. I always felt blessed that my parents never separated. Times like this make we wish they would have. There seems to be no love between them. Now it's just anger, and my sister and I have to bare the brunt. We have to be the adults. The tides have turned and I cried for 30 minutes because it fully hit me for the first time. What good is parental love towards their children if they don't love for each other. That love is supposed to be what created my sister and I. Now that lack of love is driving me further away from them, and all I have the courage to do is pray. 

Saint Joseph, head of the Holy Family, please pray for my family.

More Snow!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring-like day. It got to upwards around 50 degrees and I saw the first robin of the year.

This morning I woke up to 3 inches of heavy snow on the ground...

Good thing I'm now practically a ski bum or this would have made me as mad as that robin probably is!

Peace all!

Skier's Thumb

If you are one of my very few regular readers you know that I have taken up downhill skiing. I live 30 minutes from a pretty good mountain so why not, right?
Well, skiing down a mountain is only so much fun. The real fun is the terrain park. Catching air is awesome if not slightly terrifying sometimes. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to catch up with some of my youth from youth group who have the same idea I do, only they are a lot better then I am at this point. Following them through the park gave me a lot of confidence and I was having a great time.
I should have stopped then.
Cruising to the last jump, I now know that I had a bit too much speed. Up and over and boom. It could have been a lot worse, but I'm paying for that last jump and will be for at least a few more days.

My left thumb is pretty much immobile. Just try going through your day without using your thumb at all... it sucks and is difficult. 

If my own Lenten fasting was not enough I now have this to deal with. Still, I'm trying to look at all of this in a positive way. It's painful, but not unbearable. Sure, I have to put a bit more thought into everyday tasks, but its okay. I can offer all this up for the glory of God's kingdom.

Peace all

Remember that You are Dust and to Dust You Shall Return

I got to distribute ashes for my parish yesterday. When Father asked me I immediately rattled off my favorite phrase to say when applying the ashes... "remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". The shocked look I received forced me to ask what the other phrase was that could be used. Clearly, Father did not wish me to use my favorite phrase, so I didn't. "Repent and believe in the Gospel"... won't be forgetting that anytime soon after the number of times I said it yesterday.
The morbidity of my favorite phrase is really what makes it my favorite. Too often in this day in age death is an afterthought, something normal people don't talk about or think about, until they really have to.
I say screw that! Death is going to happen for all of us and we need to remember that. One big reason why churches are empty nowadays is for this very reason. We don't think about death and by the time it catches up to us, well, sorry, it's too late. If more people thought about their death and then in turn the afterlife churches and masses would be in much higher demand. Is that why most of the people at daily mass are 30 to 40 years older then myself? Is the reality of death and the need for forgiveness something that the majority only realize after they are "over the hill"? It shouldn't be that way, but seems like it is.
Maybe I did a disservice by not using my favorite phrase...

I've had the conversation with people in my new community about what to do if death is looming. Hearing from a couple people that should they ever be seriously injured or in distress to call a priest before an ambulance has caused some self reflection for myself. These people understand that death is it and ya, it's going to happen, so make sure the good old fashioned, but not used anymore term of extreme unction is there before a paramedic is even on the road.  
The severity of having an unforgiven mortal sin on your soul at the time of death registers with very few.
Since the application of ashes is meant to signify our realization of our own sinfulness and mortality, we should all look more like this on Ash Wednesday anyways...

Peace all