Translating a World on the Edge

Everyone likes to have a second chance. And most of the time a second chance is there to be had. Except in the case of death. If we have things we know we should say to someone, yet we haven’t said them—because of pride, because we’re just so busy, or because there’s friction in the relationship—we need to wake up. We need to act. No one knows the day of death.

 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,^] but My Father only. –Matthew 24:36

We may never get a second chance to tell someone we’re sorry, or that we love them and always have. We may never get a second chance to say thank you to someone who changed our lives.

We have only today. The past is over, and tomorrow may never come. Let’s not waste time with unimportant things. Let’s run to those we love. And let’s do it today.

When Great Trees Fall

by Maya Angelou

When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety.

When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken.

Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves.

And when great souls die,

after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly.  Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed.  They existed. We can be.  Be and be better.  For they existed.

Aren’t you amazed at the brilliance of people around us–smart people who push advances along in science, technology, medicine, physics, and a multitude of so much more. But are these people necessarily wise?

Intelligence is not the same as wisdom. Think of someone you consider wise. A parent, or grandparent? A counselor or teacher? A spiritual leader? Do you think they became wise because of their brilliant minds? or is there something else that makes a person truly wise?

Isn’t it his or her conscious choice to “do the right thing?” A person may not want to choose such a thing–yet he does it. And he does it courageously, because he sees a higher purpose.

A person may be born with genes of high intelligence, but I don’t believe a person is born wise. We discover wisdom for ourselves, usually after a journey through something dire, a path which must be our own–no one can take it for us. We have the capability of becoming wise after a journey through adversity. And each of us sometime in our lives, take such a journey.

Is there a better teacher of compassion than one’s own experience of suffering? Is there a better way to learn humility than to make a mistake? And when we face a adverse situation, such as illness or the death of a loved one, we often think about what LIFE actually means.

Of course, not ALL people grow wise from adversity–some grow mean, bitter, and revengeful. So what is the difference?

I believe it is a spiritual grounding, a belief in God who showed us the ‘right’ way, and continues to grace us with the strength to make courageous choices in difficult circumstances.

At some time or another, each of us will lose our focus and be  mean to another person.  And often it’s intentional. Why do we do this?

Are we mean to people because our own needs have not been met and so we lash out, “getting back at the world” for having treated us badly?

This is silly, because the world gives back to us the same as  we put out. Meanness will always rebound on us.

I think one of the reasons we are sometimes mean  is  because we see something in the other person that reminds us  of  what we don’t like in ourselves. If we find ourselves bullying someone else, or insulting them, or plotting against them, we need to take a good look inside our own hearts.  What is bothering us? And then, try to be honest enough with ourselves to change it.

Another reason for meanness is jealously of another person.  We may feel the world has treated them better than us, given them more friends, or provided them with a better lifestyle.

To get over it,  we should first think about exactly what it is that they have that we want. Secondly,  will that thing make us happy? if we believe that it will, then we can actually learn from the person we are jealous of.  We can compliment them to their face on an accomplishment, rather than spitefully tearing them down behind their backs. And then in the nicest way we can,  simply ask them how they developed in themselves the thing that we want.

Meanness can also come from fear–maybe even the fear of abandonment by someone we love. To guard against it we put that person down as often as we can.  We denigrate them in an attempt to devalue  them in  the off-balanced thinking that this will keep them dependent on us…i.e. “Who else would have you anyway?”

When meanness gets this out of hand, we need spiritual help, because we’re destroying our selves as well as the one we pretend to love.

We should remember that meanness cannot make us happy, only more unhappy.

Malice drinks one half of its own poison.
—-Seneca

The Sabbath  is the Lord’s Day. We go to Mass, or  Church, taking our families with us. We listen to the Word of God, we may receive communion, we smile and greet the priest or preacher with god-fearing words.

But the love of God and neighbor is more than a one day a week event. What about the other six days of the week? Shouldn’t they also belong to the Lord? Why don’t many of us carry Sunday ideas into the rest of the week?

If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor. — St. Charles Borromeo

And that’s it exactly. The PRESENCE OF GOD. Sunday or Monday, it makes no difference. We are always in the presence of God whether we realize it or not. If we cheat our neighbor, lie, or steal. If we abuse ourselves or others. If we ignore the rights of others no matter how small–God sees. God knows.

We show our love of God–or don’t show it–every day of every week. And He shows His love for us. It is a life long covenant, after all.

If only I could live in the Will of God—in His Spirit—in His Love. If I could only see His Providence, His Spirit at work in the present moment. He works, arranges, permits every facet of my life, every moment of my existence. His Presence is in the midst of my every day situations. The only Reality is within the reality of whatever is happening. If only I could embrace the present moment as if He were in front of me. The present moment is like a chisel in the hands of God. He uses it to round off jagged corners, smooth over rough surfaces, reshape and remold my soul. It is precious, for it brings God to me in a personal way. It calls forth the very best of the One who lives within me. My God, let me embrace the present moment with love. — Mother Angelica

Everyone wants to be Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day. But did you know Saint Patrick was a slave? Here’s the story from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.

As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote

“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.”  “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”

Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.

He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”

He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick’s message.

Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.

Why a shamrock on Saint Patrick’s day?

Patrick used the three leaves of the  shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God can be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.