Archbishop Dolan and the Governor met yesterday trying to work out a compromise to the mosque, unfortunately the most important party was missing, the people of the mosque themselves. Last Sunday Arch. Dolan was in Staten Island saying Mass in Spanish, trying to reassure the Mexicans who have been under attack there. Good for him. The other day the Archbishop went to visit Covenant House, which is a charity here in NYC that caters for the most venerable of our children, those who run away from home and get afoul of the law, who get in a spot of trouble and have to deal with courts. In Ireland I was doing similar challenging work that is why the visit by the Archbishop registered with me. As far as I am concerned the Archbishop could not give support to a more deserving and praiseworthy apostolate.
We celebrated the memory of Mother Theresa last Thursday and the Empire State Building refused to honor her, but we certainly did by celebrating Mass in her honor and memory. Mother Theresa still holds a special place in our hearts for her goodness, generosity and great love for the poorest. She bore witness to the love of God that transcends all limitations and barriers. If there was one shining symbol of God’s compassion was Mother Theresa. In this Sunday gospel Jesus exhorts his followers to do things for nothing, just for the love of God and not for lucre or profit. I cannot think of anyone better than Mother Theresa at doing precisely that. Maybe we should try and introduce a bit of this generosity in our little lives.
Sometimes there are simple occurrences that make me pause and reflect. An elderly parishioner brought to me a nice cake and some fruits and when I looked at the bananas they were gorgeous. Now the elderly lady lives in the neighborhood and buys stuff at the same shops that I do how come her fruit seems much better than mine? Because I am too fast and careless and don’t know how to select properly. Maybe it is high time that I start putting more diligence in how I spend my money, in how I purchase my things, spend more time in the shop instead of in and out as I do, show more care; there is product and product.
I wanted to cook for myself Saturday evening a dish of simple spaghetti with tomatoes and instead of using a tin I wanted to use real tomatoes. I had the spaghetti and the onions but I didn’t have the tomatoes so I went to Gourmet to buy some tomatoes only. But once I was there I almost bought the entire store. It always works out like that. And I was at the counter telling this story to the girl and she thought it was funny and my bill came to 102 dollars, which by my standards is a very big bill and I was taking my purse out to pay. I always use cash. It is the safest way because if you have money you buy whatever and if I don’t have it you don’t go shopping. Period. I am not into credit cards somehow. I was just doing that when a gentleman, a parishioner, whom I knew well, stepped forward and said to the girl: I’ll take care of it. I don’t think I was wearing my collar, so I don’t know whether she knew I was a priest, but she may have suspected it because she was not surprised or taken aback and when he offered his credit card she swiped it even before I could say thank you. I was there with my mouth agape and frozen as if time stood still. Of course I thanked him and blessed him deeply moved. What can I say!!
Nobody likes to be told what to do, so when I asked a couple soon to be married that they had to attend a Pre-Cana course the young man was annoyed. What for and all that jazz. Rules are rules. So they selected a course and joined the many couples in attendance, from like 9am to 3pm etc. I was later told by the woman that her fiancé at the end of the meeting came out with this sentence: Wow! That was most interesting and enjoyable. Now, wouldn’t you want to murder him, she said.
A friend of mine has given me a mountain bike and a helmet so that we could go cycling together in the park. Our park is so uneven and there are two steep hills and quite lengthy. Jogging is so boring, so slow, so hard on your joints, whereas biking can be fun. The last time I was walking in the park I noticed how the bikes have multiplied. There used to be many roller blades but seem to have disappeared. Instead now everybody in on bikes, hundreds of them. It took us a good half hour to do the six miles loop taking it easy. Up those hills is a good cardio. You huff and puff and feel like spitting your lungs out. I was very careful downhill. Lots of sweat. Lots of fun. Something new to do.
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