Return to me with all your heart

Joel 2:12
The Lord invites us to rend our hearts, not our garments. What's all that about? Rending or breaking something is a sign of one's sacrifice unto a higher power. In ritual, people do that to animals, skin, and bread. God showed us such a loving sacrifice in the breaking of the body of his Son. During this Lenten time of sacrifice -- when we give back to God that which we enjoy (our lives) -- we are encouraged to sacrifice of ourselves in a more interior way (your heart) than just a symbolic or external sacrifice (the color of your sweater). Before you are marked with ashes, bring your heart back where it belongs.
On this Ash Wednesday, Chicago is waiting for this highly anticipated "snowstorm." So far, nothing yet. Birthday blessings on my nephew Michael and on all those who begin this holy season of prayer.

There's A Place

I drove from Chicago to Detroit last night, New Year's Eve. Tomorrow starts an 8-day retreat for our candidates, and so I wanted to make it here before the 9 inch snowfall. I was successful. It started to snow as the clock struck midnight and 2008 began. This morning, I went outside to take a walk and noticed a pile of fresh snow near a small evergreen bush. It looked like baking power: pure white and a very fine, dry powder. I scooped up a handful and took a bite. Woah! OK, if you live in an area where snow falls fresh, try this little experiment to see what a number it does on your memory. Bite into some fresh snow and see if you aren't transported back to your life at age 6. Suddenly, as I bit the handful of snow this morning, I saw our front living room at Christmas and some of the presents I got around the year 1960. It was only an instant, but it was sure and somehow a-physical. The memory was not stored in my head or chemistry, but above me ... "up there" someplace where my life waits for the last judgment. Hopefully that little memory of grace will get me through Purgatory a little more quickly. Happy New Year.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Ps 51:9

A beginning

So there I was sitting in Skip and Laura’s apartment having Christmas dinner around the table with family as we all engaged in family conversation. Maybe you saw the picture in my photo gallery at the right. Anyway, we chatted on about the true meaning of Christmas and whatever, like such as ... when Phyllis posed this question: "So Pat, have you ever read the whole Bible?" I wondered, "Uh ... ya mean like cover to cover?" And I replied that I had at one time tried to read the whole Thing but stopped around the book of Judges or something like ... such as. Of course with over 40 years of attending Mass, I am almost sure I ran across a great majority of the Biblical texts, but I can't say I have read "The Whole Thing," as it were ... or like such as. No one else at the table made any claim to having read the whole Bible through and through, so I thought I'd offer a challenge. I told the folks gathered there that I might just look into that idea as a way to start the New Year. Maybe it will be one of my New Year’s resolutions to read the Sacred Scriptures from start to finish. If anyone wants to join me, I'd be happy for the company. We could do something like 10 pages a day or maybe 5 chapters a day, whatever. In any case, I do read the Bible every day anyway, in things such as Mass and prayer, and the Office and others like such as. But still it would be cool, the next time someone (like such as Phyllis) asks me have I ever read the whole Bible cover to cover (Genesis to Revelation) ... Then I would be able to proclaim with pride (which is sort of like a sin) "Yes indeed." So join me if you'd like. The fun begins January 1, 2008 at Genesis 1:1 ...

"In the beginning ..."

I've Got A Feeling

Sometimes it does start with a feeling. My journal entry from November 17, 1987 reads "At midnight tonight I was lightly touched about my calling to enter a religious community ... it seems I finally found a direction." On November 18, the journal reads, "Last night I believe I finally heard the call to a vocation to an order." The entry for November 19 reads, "This afternoon, I drove downtown to St. Xavier Church and found one brochure on Jesuits USA, the last one. I sat in church and read it entirely. Back home, I wrote to Chicago to send me some information on formation." That was twenty years ago. What has happened since? A splendid time: months of prayer, struggle, anticipation, friendships, and spiritual confirmation. Til eventually the Lord led me to actually enter the Jesuits. Since then: more prayer, building relationships and defining the Self, conforming Myself to Himself. Service. More prayer and lots of desire. Experiments coupled with direction and discernment. Pronouncing public witness to the 3 vows. Engaging in a lot of studying. Later, teaching, then preaching. A lot of moving and leaving. Poland. Bolivia. Peru. Mexico. All started twenty years ago with a feeling! Who knew? Then ordination: the change! The devotion and the donation. Being called by you to speak of Him and bring Him near. Being unworthy yet highly favored. Baptizing. Forgiving. Wedding. Taking. Blessing. Breaking. Sharing. Man I wish I could do this better. Right now He has sent me to help others hear the call and respond. Now, I'm the one to receive requests for information on formation. Sometimes I mail out brochures; always I send out prayers. I've got a feeling this is what the Lord had in mind. As far as my journal goes, I wish I could visit it more than I do. Now I write not in pencil on journal pages but in binary on blogs and walls. But no matter where I write it, it's good to jot something down whenever I've got a feeling.

Last month I had my vocation story inserted into the pages of our province website. It is a little condensed into three paragraphs. Maybe one day I'll write a book. Meantime ... blogs.

No Reply

Yesterday Adam took me to see "Across the Universe." A kind of Beatles theme movie about young people during the 60s. You can see the trailer if you want. Anyway, the movie was OK, not THAT fantastic ... kind of tedious. But as we drove home, Adam asked me what was my favorite Beatles tune of all time. Not in terms of historical import (such as: "Yesterday" because it had been covered the most, or "Paperback Writer" because it inspired the Beach Boys to do "Good Vibrations" which led to Sgt. Pepper) ... Adam just wanted to know what MY favorite song was. I had no reply ... really, until I just blurted out, "I guess, uh ... 'No Reply'." Which, I do, I love that song. Based on the criterion that if you played it fifty times in a row, I'd still like to hear it, sing with it, and move to it.

It is a classic John song: "despairing at the world of lost love" ... which is another story. And there is this spot (at 1:28) where John and Paul's harmonies are so striking, not to mention the drum syncopation (at 2:02) which is one of Ringo's best. OK, so maybe that's my favorite Beatles tune .... but I also like "If I Fell" quite a lot. And there must be something said for "Across the Universe" itself. After all, that John song was the one which drew me in 1970 (at the age of 16) to buy my first Beatles album. I was doing the dishes one night and heard it on the radio (55 KRC) and thought to myself, "I have to go buy that album tomorrow." I did. Ironically, my first was the Beatles' last: "Let It Be."

Oh, and if you want to see what John thinks of Paul's "Let It Be," listen to him sing "Let it A, Let it B, let it C, let it D."
CLICK HERE to listen.

It's all too much.

She Loves You

I found a cool web site today as I was surfing. It is run by an old friend of mine and his wife. They are a Catholic couple in Georgia who do podcasts, videos, and ... yeah ... make Rosaries.

Why not say the Rosary?

How much time does it ask? I am sure we have all wasted 20 minutes on ... uh ... web surfing. And what better way could you spend 20 minutes than contemplating MYSTERY? Anyway, here are the links. Think about it.

Click the image above for a closer look. And isn't it coincidental that 90 years ago today three children were inspired in Fatima to pray in such a way?

http://www.rosaryarmy.com
http://youtube.com/user/gregwillits

I'll Follow the Sun

This morning, I dragged myself out of bed to see the Sunrise. I capitalize Sunrise because I like to think it has something to do with the rising of the Son to the world. It turns me on, OK.
Anyway, this morning's was particularly beautiful. I live on Lake Michigan at the end of Loyola Ave so it's a blast to walk over to the lake and wait. I figured that today's Sunrise would be about 6:44 or so. Turns out it rose exactly at 6:45 am. Not a cloud in the sky, the spark of orange light ignited on the horizon and grew into a disk in less than 3 minutes. I couldn't look right at it, but I took in the colors nearby: a lot of morning blue, some horizon rose, white whisps, and a lot of gray soaring gulls, and some black speck planes. Took time for prayer, maybe thought of you, and then sipped my warm coffee as I headed back into the house.

Now here's the puzzler: I checked the Sun-Times to see the time for tomorrow's Sunrise: 6:46 am. Usually, no suprise, the sun comes up a minute later each day until December 22 when it travels back up towards our tropic. Then I looked at the times for moonrise, also another hobby. Today it will rise at 8PM. Tomorrow the moon rises at 8:44 PM. Monday it rises at 9:37 PM, Tuesday at 10:41. WAIT ... one day it rises at 8, then 44 minutes later, then 53 minutes later, then 64 minutes later ... WOAH. How come the intervals of moonrises are not uniform, or systematic? So, I sent my question in to "Ask An Astronomer" and I patiently await my answer. Enough hobby for this morning. Time to enjoy the sunny Saturday.