FUNERAL APPLES AND ORANGES?

So I went to a non-denominational funeral yesterday and was actually quite excited to go to see how someone else did things.  Of course, I was making comparisons between what happened there and what happens at a Catholic funeral.  The thing that I was most struck by however was the lack of participation.  I don’t mean that by way of people not singing or praying (because     they did) but by the role of the laity (at least this one instance.)

We were there largely to listen and pray along with the minister.  He asked us to make Jesus our personal Lord and Savior so that we might join the deceased in heaven.  He prayed over us and asked God to bless us and keep us close to Him and to bring us comfort in this time of sadness.  And there were a lot of stories about the deceased which were at times poignant and humorous.  It was quite touching.  Our “job” was to be moved.  It was billed as “paying our last respects.”  But to whom did we pay them?  The deceased (in this theology) can neither know of now benefit from them.  So it was an exercise in remembering the good (we were told to throw away the bad thoughts) and buoying ourselves up to face life with the lessons learned from this one.  The onus on the preacher is heavy. 

Then I think of a Catholic funeral.  When properly understood and we are at our best, the congregation is not there to simply be ministered to.  They are there to work.  At baptism they were anointed kings, prophets, and priests.  As priests, there are prayers to be offered.  Parts of the Mass belong to the congregation and they are to pray them.  Of course, our theology differs from that of the Protestant Churches in that we believe in the communion of saints; that is, that there is only one Body of Christ with Christ as the head and that Body cannot be completely severed in half even by death so that somehow, in Christ, we are all still somehow mysteriously united.  And because our theology of salvation also differs, there is work to be done for the one who has passed.  We pray for them that their soul may be sped on to heaven.  The ordained priest along with the priesthood of the people offer the One Sacrifice to the Lord on behalf of the one they love and all of the faithfully departed.  Healing comes not by being comforted but through ministry.  The priest still carries much of the burden of the celebration but the totality of the responsibility is shared.

At the end of the service yesterday we were just done other than getting on with our life in Jesus and remembering the good things about the deceased and building on them.  For the Catholic, we remember as is said in the rites that, “All the bonds of friendship and affection that knit us together throughout life do not unravel with death.”  Our prayers for each other continue.  Masses may be offered, candles lit, prayers said, an active relationship in God still to be nurtured.

Or at least it seems to me. 

"GET TO" VERSUS "HAVE TO"

“I am so bored.”

The kids are home and want something to do and they are pulling at your pant leg saying, “Can we do something?”  Well, here are some ideas.  I realize that parishes are different (as are kids) so maybe this will or will not work for you.

Determine your child’s temperament and decide how much s/he can handle.  Do you need an excursion that would eat up some time, allow you to spend some quality time with your child, while at the same time doing something constructive?  A well constructed trip to a parish church just might be the ticket.  (Are you laughing out loud yet?)

It might be a mistake to announce, “Get dressed, we are going to daily Mass!”  This could be met with an, “Awwwwww, I don’t WANT to!”  Make it a project and plan an excursion.  Is there somebody that you and your child know that is hitting on hard times?  Is Grandma ill?  Is your child’s best friend moving?  Here is one plan:

Have your child think about who needs prayer.  It may be someone who later you can say, “We went to church to pray for you.”

Plan a trip.  It may be as simple as going to light a candle (what kid does NOT like to light candles?) or attend Mass or visit a really cool church to offer 5 minutes of prayer and look at the beautiful building, or visit the image of a favorite saint (and have a prayer ready.)  Assure your child, “we are going just for 5 minutes - or just for Mass - or just for a visit - or just for benediction) and then after we will go (for ice cream - breakfast - a hike - to the park . . . )

Hopefully your parish has some fun activity for you child so that going to the parish can be seen as something fun to do rather than always being the thing that they have to leave something fun to do.  Just as an example, there are all kinds of summer camps at this parish - everything from Bible Camp to Spanish Emersion Camp.  There are concerts and a playground (where you could bring lunch with your child and have a picnic.)  Used well, all of these things can help you make the parish someplace that the family goes, not someplace where they HAVE to go.

(And if your parish doesn't do anything, be the person who starts something!)

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCL

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” from G. K. Chesterton's, "The Everlasting Man"

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ellen sent this in:  "I'm sending this along to all my Chesterton friends.  St. Dominic in Youngstown is having three Dominican Rite Masses next month, in honor of the OP 800th anniversary. Brief tutorials will precede each Mass. 

"More details on the attached flyer.

"Perhaps you could include this announcement in your blog too?  Thanks."

For you who have been following, I am happy to announce that the bird in the flower box of my window has given birth!  Isn't it a cute little tyke?

I was walking in downtown Barberton last week with Fr. Orndorff and came across this which brought some amount of happiness.  I know it is difficult to read so I'll just tell you what it is.  It is the Walk of Fame in front of the Lake Theater.  There are three people on it so far.  To the far left of the first picture is O. C. Barber, (Ohio Columbus Barber - what name - destined for greatness with a name like that) who is the founder of the city. 

To the right of the bottom picture is Archbishop John Whealon, a native of Barberton.  (When I was a seminarian I purchased his Liber Usualis for $2 - going for about $100 at the time from used book stores - at a tag sale in Barberton.  Talk about savings.) 

The remaining one IN THE MIDDLE is my Uncle Frankie Spetich, "Musician - Polka King!"  Talk about a place of honor within a place of honor.  I am glad Barberton has its priorities straight.

Here is the next installment in a crash course in Philosophy - about 9 minutes.

MODAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: WHO NEEDS A LESSON TAUGHT?

Some kids were on our property this past week and did some minor vandalism.  Man that gets my liturgical underwear in a bunch.

It was minor but irritating.

I will admit to not having kind thoughts.

But then God has His say.

Man can God throw me for a loop.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: I LOVE YOU DAD

Just about every holiday we have about love is about how much you love someone else.  On Valentine's Day, Mother's/Father's Day, Sweetheart's Day, Sadie Hawkins Day you are supposed to go out and get a card or some chocolates or flowers or something to show someone how much you love them.

The complete opposite of this is the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which we celebrate today.  It is all about recognizing how loved we are by the very source of love, Jesus' heart which is on fire for us.  It is his ardent desire that we be united to Him and that we might be one in Him.  That is the same love that He and the Father have, the Father and the Son being one.

We kids are not so great.  Like all children we are willful and often disobedient.  When there is a rift between some people and their parents as there is between us and the Father (original sin), we give it a name like defiance syndrome or something and prescribed all manner of things to repair the gap.  Jesus is doing much the same.

There is a rift between us children and our Father.  Jesus' mission might be summed up with the idea that he wishes to make us one; one with each other, one with Him, and one with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit.  No place is this most evident than at the Mass.  We go through the whole remembrance of His great love for us (no greater love is there than this, that you lay down your life for your brother) and are witnesses to His great love and unity with His Father when He is lifted up to His Father in that single event that comes to us through the ages when the Blessed Sacrament is lifted up, the priest intones, "Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is Yours Almighty Father, for ever and ever."

The congregation breaks out (hopefully) in the great three fold, "AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!"  Right there, right in that moment, we are not only celebrating that Jesus and His Father are one in the love of the Holy Spirit, but that in that same Spirit, we are too are one in Christ and through Christ then, are once again one with our Father.  What else can we do?  We, humble creatures, dare to cry out to our Creator, not calling Him overlord, or great dictator, or even master, but in this most intimate of moments we say, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be Thy Name."  We ask Him to heal us and make us holy; to forever heal the rift between us.  And then we ask that He give us the spiritual nourishment that we need to accomplish this.  "Give us THIS DAY our daily bread . . . ". What is the next thing that happens?  We are fed with the Body and Blood of His most beloved Son.  The unity is complete.  (GIRM 81)  

What left is there?  What more can be said or done?  How can you top that?  You can't.  So we say thank you (prayer after communion) make a few announcements, and then tell people to, "Go, the Mass is ended!"

Thanks be to God!

HAVING FUN WITH HERESY

I received an interesting letter from a man named Ron Sutter yesterday.  He is a former Catholic that is afraid that all Catholics are going to hell and he wrote to me hoping that I will have a change of heart and start leading Catholics according to his way of seeing the Gospel and Jesus’ mission.  It is a form a letter so I wonder how many of you may have received it.

I rarely have a problem with anybody who accurately presents Catholic teaching and then respectfully disagrees.  I will still think them incorrect, but I can respect that.  But when someone misrepresents the Church and then violently rips the false teaching apart in a slight of hand to prove how wicked (or in this case extremely cruel) the Church is, then I get my liturgical underwear in a bunch.  

The letter is three pages long and I have only a short time to write today.  But if you receive such a letter, it might be a good exercise to read it and then get the catechism out see if you can discern the flaws in the reasoning, find the straw men, and weigh the theology.  

In this letter, he states that he grew up Catholic but that he did hear the Gospel until age 19.  It was the first time that he heard that Jesus was the way to heaven.  I have a difficult time believing that he went to PSR, was baptized, received Communion, and was confirmed, went to Mass every weekend, and did not hear that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Another major theme in the letter is that Catholics believe that they earn their way into heaven.  “Ask any Catholic,” he asserts, “and they will tell you they are going to get into heaven because they do good works.”  We know, however, that we not only cannot, but we have no need to earn heaven.  If we could earn heaven, one of us would have pulled it off before 2,000 years ago and we wouldn’t have needed Jesus.  Jimmy Akins puts it succinctly: “To come to God and be saved, you need to repent, have faith, and be baptized. If you commit mortal sin, you need to repent, have faith, and go to confession.”  In all of this it is Jesus Who will save you.  Read more of his article HERE.

Here are two more sentences and then I will call it quits.  1) “The Catholic Church is clearly false because you preach another Gospel.  God is Holy.  He cannot tolerate even one sin and demands moral perfection: something we don’t have to offer.” 

Here is straw man case,  Does the Church teach that you must be morally perfect in this life in order to get into heaven?  Let us take the case of St. John Paul II.  When he was canonized there was a flurry of activity online and in the news about how he was not perfect.  (If he were perfect, he would’t have needed Jesus.)  We don’t claim that he was perfect, just a great model of true Christianity, and example of Christian living in our day and age.  No-one who knows and understands the teachings of the Church (which are the teachings of Christ) thinks for a moment that the saints had reached moral perfection in this life.  In fact, that is heresy.  “Anyone who says he is without sin calls God a liar.” 1 John 1 :8

Finally, “He justifies, he sanctifies, and He glorifies.  In the end, God gets one hundred percent of the glory for our salvation.  No one in Heaven is boasting in themselves about being there because everyone there knows i was all Him.”  

Well . . . yes.

But this is a clever ploy to make it sound as though this is something that the Church does not teach.  We actually agree but it is an attempt to make the Church look bad.  It is a clever but dishonest, underhanded letter with a fraudulent presentation of Catholic teaching.

And a fun way to build you knowledge of your own faith.

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND CCCXLIX

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "Let a man walk ten miles steadily on a hot summer's day along a dusty English road, and he will soon discover why beer was invented."  G K Chesterton

IN OTHER NEWS:

Not much news to report this week.  Here is the latest on the bird outside my window.  She's still just sitting there.

Not nearly as interesting as the deer at St. Anthony.  The little brown dot at the center of this picture is a little doe.  I didn't want to get any closer and couldn't get a better picture.  I was up visiting Fr. Kovacina and he pointed this little bundle of joy out.  Later saw it gamboling about with Mom.  

 It was a busy weekend at St. Sebastian.  Here is part of our Corpus Christi celebration.  Thanks for the picture Karen.

 And here is the Memorial Day Pot Luck Breakfast with appropriate entertainment.  Thanks for the picture Tom.

Here is class number 3.  About ten minutes:

WHOSE WEDDING IS IT ANYWAY?

AS IT WAS SAID BY ONE LADY:

“You know what the problem is Father?  From the time a little girl has any concept of what a wedding is, she has been daydreaming about it.  She imagines it and catalogues everything that she likes from movies and such.  And then you come along and say, ‘Sorry, I can’t do that.’  But they do it on T.V. and at the Brand New Jesus Church so you look like a jerk.”

That may be true.  It may also be true that we do not preach and teach enough about marriage and weddings to firmly ground people in what they are and what they do.  So two different philosophical boats collide on Lake Erie and it is rare in these situations that both sides go, “Oooops, my bad,” and then motor along.  Dreams and law collide and someone is invariably upset that there is a scratch on their boat.

One of the biggest philosophical barriers to overcome is figuring out to whom the wedding and the marriage belong.  Much of the world would say that the wedding day belongs primarily to the couple.  It is a consumer mentality.  I want to get married, I am hiring you to do it, and this is how I want it done.  It is my dream day, my life, and my commitment, and therefore it should go the way that I want it to go.

That sounds reasonable.  Aunt Judy and Ranger Rick who will be in attendance are not exchanging vows, are not going on the honeymoon, will not be living with the new couple and didn’t pay for a lick of anything.  The Church (typically) receives some fees for services rendered.  So if someone wants to get married on the beach at noon on Sunday at a destination wedding in bathing suits with “Pretty Woman” playing as the bride walks down the sandy aisle, why should we not cater to the consumer?  It is just good business practice.

But what if the wedding does not belong only to the couple?  What if it belongs to the whole community?  What if marriage is a public thing in which everyone has a stake?  What if the reason the Church is involved is to bring support for the day, the marriage, and the family through example, prayer, and assistance in good times and bad, sickness and health?  What if the reason the bells are rung before the wedding Mass is not just because it is pretty but that a wedding belongs to the greater family of Church and they are invited and the bells are the general invitation?  If it is not all of these things, why not just get married in private and then have a blowout party?  

Like the Mass does not belong to the priest meaning he can’t play around with it because it belongs to the whole Church and they have a right to the Church’s Mass, so too does a wedding ceremony belong to the whole Church, the Church in Akron, the United States, the Americas, the world, and therefore we do what belongs to our common union.  Those in attendance, those expected to facilitate, and those marrying all have a right to that.  It is not a purchasing of a service, it is a joining in the life of Jesus’ Church and the life of generations of Catholics who pray for marriage every day.

Ah, well.

THE LIPS, THE TEETH, THE TIP OF THE TONGUE. ENUNCIATE, PRONOUNCIATE

What if you couldn’t understand the Reader at Mass?  What if today’s readings sounded a bit like this:

“Beloveh,

Realize tha you wah ransah frugh yo fuelile conuc, hannen on by yo ancess(gravely sound.)”

Someone is sitting at the back of the church, the room is echoey, and bodies with clothes on them are eating up the sound.  Already too softly pronounced consonants are now being put on the missing letters list on the back of milk cartons.  I would fully expect that the Reader be counseled to start enunciating and pronunciation more articulately even if it feels and sounds odd to him, because the important thing is that the words are both heard and understood or else stop reading or having Scripture at Mass.  Ministries are not charitable activities we give to people to be nice.  You must have the ability to do them and do them well for the benefit of the people in attendance because if it doesn’t matter, why do it in the first place?  The stakes are just too profound.

So why do we allow it with music?  Music is Scripture, Scripturally based, and deals with important matters of faith.  It is vital that its message is clear and understood (even if it is in Latin!) or why do it?  Then it just becomes very beautiful (hopefully) background noise.  And sometimes beautiful background noise is called for.  But unless you intend that, why not make sure every work you sing is enunciated with distinction?  It may be that a particular phrase moves a heart and soul toward the Lord in a way that the homily didn’t or can’t.  

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCXLVIII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "Love is the parent of brave actions."  from Sir Walter Scott's, "Ann of Geierstein

QUOTE II:  "Men lure no hawks with empty hands."  same source

IN OTHER NEWS:

PCV sent THIS ARTICLE in about the United Methodist pulling their support for a Pro-Abortion Coalition.  Interesting.

PROUD DOG OWNER:  They say that pets start reflecting their masters.  Yesterday Sebastian, a friend and I were walking and came across a pile of trash on the devil strip.  Sebastian jumped in and grabbed a new toy.  He has learned well from me as much of the house we live in came from other people's cast offs.

You know, people think he is all cute carrying around a stuffed toy.  "Oh look!  How adorable!"  Little do they realize he is carrying his prey, the dark side of which is only revealed later.  As is his want, he will later, in private, pin his catch beneath his giant paws and begin by chewing the eyes out and then pull the stuffed animal's brains out through those empty sockets.  

Real cute.

 Actually it is.

BIRD BRAIN:  Well, it's official,  It seems that I have a room mate - albeit one that lives on my windowsill.  She hasn't moved (that I've noticed) since I last posted about her.  I've wanted to work on that window box but I'll wait until the kids go off to school.

Here is the second installment of the Crash Course Philosophy.  It is still pretty good.  It is amazing how much this guy sounds like John Green from Mental Floss.  I hope you enjoy.  About 10 minutes.

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: LET ME EXPLAIN TO YOU CLEARY WHAT I DON'T KNOW

There is the famous story of St. Augustine walking along the beach contemplating the nature of the Trinity and watching a young man fill a bucket or a shell with water and dumping it in a hole he had dug.  Over and over again he walked to the ocean a put little quantities of water in the hole.

Finally he stopped the lad and asked him, "What are you doing?"

"See that ocean?" he asked.  "I'm going to put it in this hole I dug."

Amused, the saint replied, "You can't fit the ocean into that hole!"

To which the boy replied, "And neither can you understand in your mind the mystery of the Trinity."

With that the young man disappeared actually having been an angel sent to give the saint an insight into the depth of mystery.

FRIDAY POTPOURRI - BUT EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT

So in high school I was dating a girl whose father was a Methodist minister.  One day I went to her family’s church to play trumpet for the choir.  The service was good, they had a communion service (no, I didn’t partake) and the music went well.  I was sitting in the sacristy after cleaning my trumpet when her mother came in bringing the communion that was left over from the service.  She tilted the silver platter and dumped it all into the trash.  

I had a moment of freaking out - like seeing someone bumping a glass full of water and reaching out to catch the glass before it spills.  Then I realized that she had done it on purpose and was embarrassed.  She said something along the lines of, “Oh you Catholics,” with a kind and broad smile on her face, “it isn’t Jesus anymore.”

It is intellectually easier for a very good Methodist to open up their communion service to anybody who professes the Name of Jesus, even those who are not yet baptized.  This body of Christians does not believe in transubstantiation but that in some way not fully explainable (it is a mystery - understandable) that “the elements are essential tangible means through which God works.”

But let’s suppose that you see something different in Communion.  You see and/or understand a Divine Person clearly present.  It would be similar to the person who sees life in the womb as a cluster of impersonal cells, but you see a vital, viable and inviolable human being - a boy or a girl.  Who would you entrust to carrying your baby to term for you: someone who promises to have respect for your clump of cells, or someone who has love for your baby girl?

If they have respect for your clump of cells, that may be grounds for a very good friendship.  If they would love your baby girl the way you do, that is a grounding for marriage.  And who is invited into THE MOST INTIMATE ACT of the marriage covenant?  Those who are part of the covenant.  Who is invited to Catholic communion?  Everybody.  All people of all times and all places.  But if you have no desire or belief to be part of this mystical marriage in a permanent way, we can share all kinds of things together, just not this Person Who we believe is present to us Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.  

That is why paragraph 80 (yes!  we have escaped paragraph 79) of the GIRM says that it is desirable that at the Paschal Banquet, in keeping with Christ’s instructions, “His Body and Blood should be received as spiritual food by the faithful who are properly disposed.”  Properly disposed to receive means about the same thing as someone who is properly disposed to receive the sacrament of marriage.  For marriage to be valid, a person must, know what they are getting themselves into, understand it, accept it, and fully give themselves to it and to a partner.  Eucharist is no different.  We are to know exactly what it is that we are doing, understand it, accept it, and give ourselves not only fully to Him, but to this Body of Christ, the Church, to which we are to be made one to be properly disposed.  If not, communion (common union) does not really exist and what we act out is not in accord with the reality.

MADE YA LOOK YA DIRTY CROOK, STOLE YOUR MOTHER'S POCKETBOOK

It doesn’t matter if you are on the stage or in the sanctuary, or subject in a painting, it matters where your eyes are focused.  In a painting it matters because your eyes direct the viewer.  For an easy example, think of every painting you’ve ever seen of the manger at Christmas.  Look at anybody’s eyes and their stare will lead you back to the baby Jesus.  Often even the ox and ass (rarely the sheep) are staring, mysteriously mesmerized by Him as if he had snacks hidden in his swaddling clothes.  Their stare constantly draws your eyes back to Him also.

There is a painting in my dentist’s office (shown below) that shows about 5 people looking off into the distance at something out of the range of the painting.  The viewer is left wondering, “What are they looking at?  Of what am I being left out?  Who are these people?  What is the NAME of this painting so that it may give me a clue?  Are they waiting for fireworks?  Is it the sunset?  Are there buffalo out on the range?  

As it turns out this painting is called, “People Out in the Sun” by Edward Hopper (1960) and these awkward looking people are actually manikins placed within the field of a nuclear bomb test to see how it would effect humans.  Suddenly this is a very interesting if not disturbing painting.

But I digress.

If you are on stage (and you are a good actor that doesn’t want to steal focus), your eyes are GLUED to what is going happening on stage so that if an audience member looks at you, their eyes are directed back to the action (unless the action is particularly bad and you are particularly interesting looking.)  If you are looking elsewhere, people will look to see at what you are looking.  If an altar server is looking into the sacristy and smiling instead of paying attention to the consecration, people who inadvertently look at the server will start to wonder what he is looking at instead of being present at the Mass.

If you are a community leader and someone else is speaking before a crowd, you look at the person speaking and are not gossiping with your neighbor.  Because of who you are, people will take their cue from you.  (Not important to him, maybe it shouldn’t be so important to me.)

So it is with life.  Our eyes must be firmly set on Jesus and eternal life.  When we focus too much on the things of the world, especially if we are leaders, bosses, parents, elders, popular figures, then we tempt others to forget about keeping their attention on that which is true, eternal, and most important and are distracted by trying to find out what is so fascinating about things that will pass.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCCXLVII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND:  "Prayer works but don't be and idiot.  Don't jump off of a building and pray for a soft landing."  Thanks to C.P.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Dawn Eden, who was largely responsible for the beginning of this blog, is in the news again.  It is brought to our attention by Mary who says, "Dawn Eden just made a return visit to Catholic Answers Live radio to introduce her new book on suffering, called Remembering God’s Mercy:  Redeem the Past and Free Yourself from Painful Memories,  drawn from  the wisdom of St. Ignatius and People Francis.  She begins the interview talking about how she’s the first one to get an S.T.D from the University of St. Mary of the Lake (seminary).    Then she goes on to talk about her conversion which began with G.K. Chesterton.  Next she speaks beautifully of how we can encounter God through our woundedness."

You can read her bio for the talk HERE.

You can read the publisher's page for her new book HERE.

And a bonus article on her: "Woman Blazes Path to Train Catholic Priests."  Read HERE.

Take a look at this picture.  A person here for an appointment noticed this yesterday.  It is a painting that I bought in Canada years ago (very small.)  There is a prism in my window and it shot this rainbow onto the canvas.  I looked cooler about 30 seconds before this picture was taken, but I had to run upstairs to get my camera - well - phone - and by then it changed dramatically.  But you get the idea.

This is a picture of a dove.  I have the impression she is planning on nesting in the flower box right outside the window of my sitting room.  She certainly has no fear of me whatsoever and she is spending a lot of time sitting there.

This 10 minute video is an excellent introduction to Philosophy.  It is what you must study before you go into any major seminary.  I do not yet know about the rest of the videos but this first one is awesome.

MONDAY DIARY: AMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: THE WONDERS OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY

I had an evening away recently with Fr. Bline, one of my classmates from seminary.  We talked about a lot of things as we approach 18 years of priesthood.  One of the things we talked about is how much we have changed.  An example of this is the picture below.

I will explain.  Earlier this week I was expecting a phone call from our Bishop.  Failing to make a connection I asked his secretary to give him my cellphone number so that he could reach me and I would not have to be tied to my desk.  So I waited and waited and waited and . . . nothing.

I decided to go out and do something and as soon as I stepped outside my phone pinged.  There was a phone message.

Yes, the bishop called and my phone did not register it for 5 hours!  I was a little panicked.

10 years ago, failure of a phone like that would have made me angry.  Now I am surprisingly not so upset by it.