Wait and Pray

 

On Monday, I had been invited by my bishop to travel along with his family to their vacation home in Michigan. I had researched photo sites to take sunrise and sunsets and looked forward to spending time with his family.

 

However, at midnight eight hours before my departure, my Susan says “Are you awake?” She shares she is feeling some heart pressure that started earlier in the day and not sure what to do.

 

Without another word, we are on our way to the emergency department. The ED staff took her in immediately, hooked her up to a monitor, EKG and we waited and waited. Four hours later, a kind PA shared that no symptoms of a heart attack were recorded but she would like to admit Susan for an Echo and stress test. No problem. Next, the hospital doctor took her history and told me to come back at 9am when visiting hours start. She was in good hands.

 

My next chore was to return home, feed the kitties and give a pill to Tiny. Sue is the kitty trauma nurse at the animal shelter and she gave me instructions how to perform this task. Once home, I reassured all her kitties that “mommy kitty” will be OK and took Tiny into the bathroom and performed the task of inserting her pill with the pill shooter and success on the second try. No, she did not spit out her pill. The angels were helping me on this task.

 

Next, I gathered Sue’s kitty notes and diabolical Suduko book to keep her busy, but when I sat down for my cereal it hit me. What would I do if she did not come home? I prayed at that moment for her recovery, no pain, no complications. I thought about all the stuff in the attic, basement and garage. Where would I begin? Then I started to think. Would I want to stay and live in this house alone. That was unsettling. Would I move someplace else? Lord, give me strength and wisdom to move slowly. No panic, no decisions, just keep praying that the test results are negative and bring my beloved home. 

 

Back in the hospital, I learned she had her Echo at 8am, but now waiting for the stress test. And we wait some more. At 11am, the house doctor comes to explain the stress test procedures and we wait again. Then at 12:30, it’s only been 12 hours since we arrived, a kind volunteer takes her for her stress test procedure and tells me it will be about two hours.

 

I leave the hospital to do grocery shopping thinking positive thoughts that we will be home for dinner. I return home for the mail and second feeding of the kitties. Back at the hospital at 2pm, no Sue. I am texting family, her littermates the name for her volunteer friends at the shelter with updates. She arrives back in her room starving since she was on PTO since midnight and nurse Michelle brings her orange jello and juice and we wait again. Michelle shared that she started nursing in high school, worked multiple medical jobs and lucky for us is an ICU nurse filling in on this cardio floor with lots of compassion and practical knowledge.

 

It's 4:30pm and outside Sue’s door, nurse Michelle looks at her computer board, she smiles and says to me, “good news”. The results of the stress test show no heart damage. In practical words, Sue’s chest pressure was the result of stressors and she needs to change some medications and get her out of this hospital. As my Aunt Helen now in heaven would say, “Thank you Jesus.”

 

Yes, while Sue is dressing, I contacted her sister Mary and litter mates to report that things are under control. However, before we left nurse Michelle reviewed Sue’s med changes and shared her wisdom to take care of herself, no processed foods and consult with a cardiologist. She is absolutely the best! The Mother Teresa of the hospital.

 

So finally home, Sue is reunited with her seven kitties: Tiny, Tony, Daisy, Velvee, Arthur, Bayberry and Slinky. After 17 hours, it’s 5:30 and dinnertime. I cooked a salmon dinner with salads and thanked the good Lord for another typical day at the office. Except instead of providing trauma services for some employer, I got to provide support to my beloved Susie and her kitties.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have caregiver duties. Give us the strength to do what is best for our loved ones and thank you for your wisdom and strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will You Walk Away

 

This is a hard saying because it asks a hard question. Jesus shares a challenging teaching and a lot of his followers abandon him over it. It  says in the gospel today they no longer went with him. And so Jesus looks at his closest disciples, and he asks them, "Will you also go away?" It's a great question for your faith, isn't it? It's a great question for your life. When the going gets tough, will you go away? Do we fall away? When a relationship is challenged, do you find a way to hang in there or to stick it out?

 

When your job's not going the way you want, do you stick to it or do you walk away? When a habit's not producing the results you would like, do you keep grinding it out, or do you give up, sleep in, and drop out? It's true for life. It's not always an easy journey. It's not an easy journey being Catholic either, is it? Following Jesus, having faith, and really trying to become the best version of yourself. I mean, we all have bad days, unexplainable things happen. We all have dry spells. Sometimes you're just not feeling it at all.

 

And we all have moments where we wonder, "God, are you really with me or not?" So today's gospel reminds us of a forgotten word, in many ways a very unpopular word. Faithfulness, also known as steadfastness or fidelity. You may know it’s cousins stick-to-it-ness and perseverance. Faithfulness is not the sexiest word around, is it?

 

It kind of reminds me of the struggle of our Roman Catholic  brothers and sisters who are desperately trying to convince their bishop to keep their parishes open. No doubt pews are empty, sadly there are less priests and religious sisters to shepherd and nourish their faith. However, in the face of this turmoil, gossip, families are sticking close to their faith. In the middle of distractions of every kind, they are faithful to their role as parents, neighbors, parishioners, they are unsung saints.

 

Even when these families are facing the closing of their parish, they need

to be steadfast, to be defender, protector, faithful. They need a single-mindedness. They know what matters most, and they are even willing to sacrifice and be challenged by their leadership to do it. That's what faithfulness does. It keeps what matters most in the front of your mind. For you and me, being faithful usually means being heroic in ordinary things.

 

Faithfulness comes in different shapes, sizes, and ages

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are facing difficult decisions and hear Jesus asking them “ Will you also go away?” Give us the wisdom, the grace to stick to our faith, to persevere and to be faithful.

 

 

A Baloney Sandwich

 

There is a story entitled “A Baloney Sandwich” by Bob Benson in his book entitled See You At The House in which I was reminded of some of the church picnics I attended in my life. Benson’s experience was so similar to mine that we could have been at the same picnics. Like him, I would get ready to pack my picnic lunch, go to the refrigerator and find a dried up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the jar so that I got it all over my knuckles trying to get to it. I would add a couple of slices of stale bread, put it in a brown paper bag and head off to the picnic.

When it came time to eat I would more than likely find myself sitting beside some people who it seemed had been preparing food for this parish picnic for the past week. They had fried chicken, potato salad, green salads, homemade rolls, pies, and cake. If that wasn’t enough they had a few things like hamburgers and hot dogs that they could throw on the BBQ. They would spread this feast out next to my baloney sandwich.

Then they would say to me, “Say, Why don’t we put it all together, and share.:  I would look down at my meager offering and reply, “No, I couldn’t do that! All I have is this sandwich”

But they would insist, “O come on, we all love baloney sandwiches, and we have plenty here. We’ll put it all together and there would be enough for everyone.”

So I would finally agree and place my baloney sandwich with the rest, with a certain reluctance but also with an eye on that fried chicken.

One could say that I came to the picnic as a pauper and ended up eating like a king.

As Bob Benson points out: One day it dawned on me that God had been saying just that sort of thing to me. “Why don’t you take what you have and what you are, and I will take what I have and what I am, and we will share it together.” I began to see that when I put what I had and was and am and hope to be with what he is, I had stumbled upon a bargain of a lifetime.

I think of that when I reflect on the Gospel this morning when Jesus talks of eating his flesh and drinking of his blood. What this passage is saying to me is that Jesus is willing to offer to us all that he is and all that he has and let us share in it. I know that in my life I don’t have enough love or faith or grace or mercy, but Jesus does. He has all of these in abundance and he is saying, “Let’s put it all together – what you have and what I have – and in that way we can be fully alive together.” It is the bargain of a lifetime.

Lod, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that the next time we see the bread and wine being brought to the altar we think of our meager, broken lives  and remember this balony story. For when I am broken, Christ has healing. Where I am inadequate, Christ’s Grace and love are sufficient. Transformation has happened. My life has a greater meaning than I could ever have imagined because I actually share the being of God. To me, that is the bargain of a lifetime.

 

Called to be People of Truth

 

Whoever said sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me didn't know much about gossip, did they? 

 

Truth matters because anything less than the truth eventually leads to pain for someone. The people of Israel loved to murmur, and they loved to complain, especially about Moses. They even complained about God. And all kinds of people loved to gossip and murmur against Jesus, just like in today's gospel. The truth is a powerful thing. In fact, our whole society depends on it. Every relationship you have business, marriage, church community, friendship depends on truthfulness, doesn't it? When we don't tell the truth about other people, when we gossip, stick our noses into areas where they don't belong because of a desire to be in the know, when we slander, intentionally set out to hurt somebody with our words, bad things happen. Marriages crumble, deals fall apart, relationships sour, friendships end, parishes are divided and sometimes lives are destroyed.

 

The tongue is a dangerous weapon, it's a powerful tool, and there are no tongue control laws. The tongue is remarkable. It can destroy thousands of lives without shedding an ounce of blood. Most of us don't think of ourselves as murderers, do we? But we murder people's reputations when we gossip, or when we stand by and let somebody else assassinate a person's character. Gossip can never be undone. Some people will never look the same way at that person again. It's evil. Gossip is the invisible sin, and tragically now gossip is just another name for conversation. Social media has made murmuring normal. In fact, it's made it accepted, encouraged, and not even noticed. But you and I are called to be the people of truth. Honesty is not the best policy. Honesty is a way of life. People of God deal honestly with other people. We live the truth. We shouldn't look like the world.

 

Words have the power to heal, to give hope, to encourage. So here's three simple questions to ask yourself before you speak. 

 

Number one, is this true? Take this seriously. Before you say something, ask yourself is it true. If you don't know that what you say is true, stop. How much grief could have been avoided if someone had merely asked themselves the question, "Do I know that this is true?"

 

Second, is this necessary? Sometimes there's no denying the facts, but it's just not helpful to broadcast them or to have other people take pleasure in the shame of somebody else. There are times to remain silent. And the best way to prevent gossip is to ask yourself, "Is it really necessary to say this? Does this person really need to know?" And if the answer's no, stop. 

 

Third, is this charitable? Slander means to intentionally use words to hurt someone. And slander is easily prevented by this question. Will these words bring hope or healing?

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who been hurt by gossip. You and I are called to stand for the truth. We are called to stand out for the truth, to speak the truth, to use words to help, not to hurt. We are called to be a people of truth.