St Catherine of Siena Comments

In the middle ages, Catherine of Sienna, a stygmatist, a mystic and compassionate sister, had conversations with Jesus Christ. The priesthood is to be revered. This Doctor of the Church revered this priestly consecration even when she encountered it in the person of sinful priests.
Jesus tells her: "It is my will that the sins of the clergy should not lessen your reverence to them.....because the reverence you pay to them is not actually paid to them but to me in virtue of the blood I have entrusted to their ministry. The sacramental mystery cannot be lessened or divided by their sinfulness."
So the next day after I read this, I attend mass at my parish. The priest who is the celebrant is not my pastor but a visiting priest from England whom I have experienced attending mass he has celebrated before not to my liking. Now here he is. UGH!! The man is going along ok, until he reads the gospel then goes into his homily. In his homily he insults Mary Magdalene by calling her "stupid" then proceeds to call us all stupid. Again I'm furious with this priest. Then thought about what St Catherine of Sienna said about priests. Was this a test? or was the Lord trying to emphasize his point here? Who know? But his point is well taken.

Fr Tim's Easter message

Since I was not home during the Easter weekend 2011, I missed Fr Tim's homily which is always good. So I get home, then I tried to look at Fr Tim's blog and discovered that his homily was taped and on line. So I go into that homily. I hear Fr Tim read the Gospel, then go into his homily. Since I could not see him, it bothered me a bit. So I turned it off. Turned off the internet and all programs open in my computer. A few hours later, I go back to my computer, turn on the Firefox browser internet and all of a sudden Fr Tim comes on reading the gospel, then into his homily while the screen was totally blank. I sat there in disbelief and listened to the whole thing. It was as if Fr Tim was saying: "YOU can't turn me off! You will listen to me whether you want to or not!"
WOW!!!

Santa Fe

While in Santa Fe, staying with friends, we got to the pilgrimage site. Franz was supposed to meet us at the restaurant at the bottom of the hill from Chimayo site. We could not use the cell phone to call him because the range was out of range. Tried using other people's cell phone but no dice either. Linda was getting overly worried. Finally I told her that she needed to trust the Lord. He will take care of us. I turned around, walked one step forward and there was Franz walking toward me.

Chimayo: The Pilgrimage

I decided to travel to New Mexico to do the Pilgrimage to Chimayo on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Stayed with friends in Santa Fe. On Good Friday, Linda and I met the Archbishop Sheehan at the beginning of the pilgrimage. It was a 8.5 mile walk on a dusty road, no sidewalks, lots of traffic and heavy foot traffic, up and down hills. Hundreds of pilgrims. We walked along the roadway for what seemed hours. Stopped to go to the bathroom along the way. They had portable toilets for the pilgrims to use. About three quarter of the way on the pilgrimage, I was feeling pretty weary. The Archdiocese had a van we could use in case we could not make it. I thought about St Bridget of Sweden when Jesus appeared to her and asked her to go to Rome on a special assignment. She responded: "I'm 68 years old (same age I am now), I'm tired, can hardly walk. I can't do it." Jesus responds: "Who do you think you are talking to? I am strength! If I send you on an assignment to Rome, I will provide the strength for you to do it. So get up and go." She went. I said to Jesus: "OK, you are strength, I don't have much in me right now but if you give me your strength, I can make it to the end." Suddenly, I got a second wind, and I made it to the end. Whew!! Thank you Jesus!!

The Biscotti

I had made some biscotti to take to the Christian in the World Program at the Mt Angel Library lecture series. We usually have a break in the middle and have refreshments, cookies, fruit etc.
So on my way to the Abbey I am thinking who will let me in to the Library which is usually closed at 7am when I get there. I asked the Lord: "Please send me someone to let me in the Library." So I get there shortly before 7am and I go into the church and see Fr Odo. I ask him if he has a key to the Library and he does but he has a group of perspective seminarian-monks he had to lead to breakfast. So there was Br Cyril who also has a key to the library and he led me to the library so he could let me in. After we get out of the Library, Br Cyril checks all the doors to make sure they are all locked. The last one on the left was open. The Lord had opened it for me. If I had gone straight to the Library I would have gotten in without bothering anybody. I did not want to test the Lord. But he surprised me anyway in his generosity.

The noon mass 04-08-11

I decided to attend the noon mass today while on my lunch hour. So I'm walking down the street and the the light turned green I proceeded to cross the street. A woman driver to my left who was making a right turn, proceeded to negotiate her right turn as I was walking. Even though I walk at a pretty rapid pace, she beeped her horn at me in an effort to get me to walk faster I guess. The nerve!
I stuck my tongue out at her but she was not looking at me so it got missed.
I kept on walking and I thought to myself, gosh how I wish that Fr David Jaspers would be celebrating mass today. Much to my surprise, as I'm sitting in the pew my friend La Vern and her husband Don from Hermiston, OR show up and sit next to me. Now the priest comes out to start mass and who should appear but Fr David. What a deal!!!
Then at church this evening before the Stations of the Cross, at the Soup dinner, I wished that Fr Tim would sit with me at my table. Well, pretty much later, here he comes with his soup and sits at my table and sits near me. What a day. I feel like God was sitting next to me having dinner with me in the form of Fr Tim. WOW!!