Military ball article

I posted this on FB, but things get pushed down the page pretty quickly there and I wanted to give this link another mention and a more permanent home.

When my daughter Cassie told us on Sunday she'd been to a military ball thrown by her husband Nic's unit the previous night, I had no idea I'd be reading about it online the next day.  It really brings home for me what they're going to be up against in the next 12 months.

Please keep Nic and his unit in your prayers throughout the year ahead.  There are lots of small things to pray for, so it's easy to keep things fresh throughout the course of the long year:

• Pray for their safety.
• Pray for the peace-seeking people they're going to encounter there.
• Pray for their conversion, to whatever extent they may need it.
• Pray for the conversion of those they oppose, who feel that attacking civilians is a justifiable way to achieve their ends.
• Pray that our troops will not become so jaded that they succumb to the temptation to embrace such violence themselves.
• Pray that they and their loved ones will remain bound closely together during their time of separation.
• Pray that their families will be protected from harm in their absence.
• Pray that they will be emotionally protected from what they are likely to witness or even inflict.
• Pray that they will return home safe and well.
• Pray that they will be instruments of peace in the midst of a world at war.
• Pray that they will overcome the threat of terrorism decisively and honorably.

And thank you in advance for praying with me for them.

Ps 95, again, and today's gospel reading

And probably about time.

Do not grow stubborn, or harden not your hearts


There are lots of ways in which we do this, and one of the chief ones is by watering down those messages that we'd rather not take to heart.  Today's gospel reading is ripe for dismissal.  "Turning the other cheek" just isn't "the American Way."  It strikes us as weak and foolish to leave ourselves vulnerable for others to take advantage of us.  And we may have a responsibility to our loved ones to not allow others to infringe on what is theirs.  So how can today's gospel reading apply in a 21st century context?

Well, the first thing we should likely realize is that it isn't as if turning the other cheek was a concept likely to be embraced by the people of Jesus' land and time, either.  There may have been some radical fruitcakes who would propose such a selfless, nutty idea, but they'd have been dismissed just as quickly as we dismiss this message today.  By and large, Jesus' fellow Israelites were anxious to throw off Rome's tyrannical yoke and to rule themselves again, and they seem to have taken a dim view of those who didn't prosper.

In a previous post I reflected on the relationship between love and vulnerability.  But it is fairly easy to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to those who mostly return our love, who respond to us with kindness and thoughtfulness.  It is another thing entirely to go the way of the cross for someone who we feel has betrayed or taken advantage of us.  In truth, it's a thing that none of us should probably try on our own, because it is a road fraught with peril for both parties: it is entirely too easy for me to become an enabler of unhealthy behavior.  But we who follow Christ have been promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, who brings along many spiritual gifts beyond our own human nature.  Among these are spiritual wisdom  and discernment, by which we can know what influences are at work in a situation and have spiritual insight into what to do about them.  These gifts help me to know how best to respond to a "neighbor" who may take advantage of me in some way.  The Spirit reminds me that the Lord is my protector and savior as well as my neighbor's, and reveals how to respond that will best allow God's love to flow in any given situation.  Some situations may call for tough love, but perhaps more of them than we realize call us to simply let it go.

This passage includes the Golden Rule.  But there is another aspect to this that we sometimes neglect, as well. It may be hard for me to allow others to show kindness to me in return.  This can reveal something of our attitude toward the kindness we share with others.  If it truly isn't a burden but a blessing for me to show kindness to another, then it is truly a blessing and not a burden for them when another shows kindness to me, as well, and I should not deprive them of this blessing.  Discernment is important here, too: is it my nature to take advantage of others?  If so, then I should probably apply this idea very differently from someone whose nature is to stand on their own and not accept the generosity of others.

The vulnerability to which today's gospel reading calls us is a great challenge.  But there is a difference between responding to that challenge in wisdom and shrinking from it with a stubborn heart.

I don't <3 NY

With apologies to my friends and family who love the city.  I know my post seems out of the blue, but I've just had a young friend return from a visit just bubbling with how great it is, and a young cousin return there with an obvious joy and a sense of coming home.  It isn't that I disagree with them, just that my own experience of the city has been tainted by, well by my experiences in the city.

Best Labor Day ever?

Got up early yesterday, as Teri and I had a pretty full day planned.  We hadn't been canoeing for several years, and both wanted to again.  The Little Miami River is a designated National Wild and Scenic River, and we love being out on it.  One of the major bikeways in the area tracks along it for dozens of miles.

So the idea was for me to get up early and cycle down to the canoe rental place where we'd finish our time on the water.  It was a beautiful but slightly cool morning, so I needed my jacket but not my long pants.  I was pleasantly surprised near the beginning of my ride to encounter one of my cycling friends from church, who I probably haven't ridden with all year as he doesn't go out with the hard core group very much.  He was waiting on another friend of ours, who didn't show up, so I had unexpected and welcome company for the first 20 miles of my ride.  We ended up riding the same distance, except mine was one-way and his was out-and-back.  Soon after he turned around I decided that either the morning or the cyclist had warmed up enough to shed my jacket.

I got down to Morrow and waited about 15 minutes for Teri to get there in the van, at which point we rented our canoe and they drove us upriver to our starting point.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day on the river.  The last time we were out, Teri hadn't had her shoulder fixed yet, so she was able to help with more of the paddling this time, especially on the shallow spots.  I did miss a couple channels, at which point I had to get out of the canoe to get us floating again; at one of these Teri had to get out, too, momentarily.  It was a pretty nervous moment for her, as the river was fairly rapid at that point, but we managed it well, then retrieved the paddle she dropped and I think concluded our trip without further wading.

Next we showered and changed and headed to a nearby winery, where we sampled several wines and shared a huge cheese tray.  Finally, we stopped by the home of some of our oldest friends in Ohio, who we don't see so much since they moved away and back, as they now live further from us and attend a different parish.  Hanging out with them and their younger two kids, now almost 21 and 17 (?) but who really engaged well with us "older folks," was a great way to conclude a wonderful day together.

Rough night . . .

Woke up twice from dreams, neither of which I remembered on waking. The first had me halfway out of bed before I realized it was just a dream. Couldn't get back to sleep after the second, so took the opportunity to pray for our girls and grandkids and Teri's dad and some geographically separated friends.  Then I came out and laid on the sofa for a while, and realized another reason I was having trouble sleeping: my left kidney was (is) really hurting. Have to find out what analgesic is best against that sort of pain, as the ibuprofen only took the edge off. Decided to skip 8 a.m. mass, but am awake and the kidney won't let me get back to sleep. So, I guess it's time to quit my griping and start praising God, who is after all way greater than all this crap. 

Yummy IKEA cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning. Now a hot shower and off to the mass I was skipping!

Being vigilant

Geez, will I never quit having to turn away from the world's ubiquitous point of view? Here's another thought along the line of my Arguing with Lyrics thread a few months ago:

Among the most harmful (for me) books I ever read was David Copperfield. Sensing a void in my literary background, I picked it up in my twenties and, yes, it's definitely a classic of English literature. However, it had the unhealthy side effect of reinforcing my wrong judgment of my bride for years thereafter. Eventually I came to understand just how inaccurate, unreasonable, and unfair it was for me to think of Teri as my Dora, or to be looking ahead to some day when I could finally be with my Anne, whoever that might prove to be. I can't help but believe that this excellent book has misinformed many other readers' judgments of their relationships, as well.

A few months ago I got hooked on a storyline in the comic 9 Chickweed Lane, which now twists in a direction I just have to turn away from for very similar reasons. (And yes, I know this is nothing more than a comic soap opera.)

"Maybe when we're 80," someone once suggested to me, but I've long since rejected that false hope. Setting aside the issue of my subsequent history, there is no way I could be the husband I'm supposed to be - the husband I want to be - or nurture the sort of marriage that Teri and I might have together, if I were longing for a someday with someone else, even one still decades off, as it once was for the now elderly characters in this storyline.

My bride is the treasure of my life, and I must be on guard against the influence of diversions which would misdirect my thoughts, tempting me to not value her appropriately.

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."  


Umm, no, and in the grand scheme of things, the pain that life has brought me isn't so unreasonable.  I'd do well to remember this more often.