Anne Marie picked me up about 9 AM on Saturday and we proceeded to St Stephen Church. My daughter was the sponsor for Ana as she was Confirmed.  The two of them were seated with Dan and Karen while I joined Karen's folks, Ted and Marilyn in the side pews. This marked the confirmation of our last grandchild, another sign of the maturing family. After the ceremony we dispersed, to reunite at Ashford house where some enjoyed breakfast, some lunch and others dinner. It was a delightful gathering. My gift giving has, for the most part, been a card with a check in it, It is something I can do without making any mistakes ... always the right color and size and no returns. Communions and Confirmations are an exception to that practice. There is no check. The gift that the grandchild has received from God is far more important than any I could give and I could not and would not try to compete with God in His generosity. I could be creative and find a small religious gift to mark the occasion but grandpa isn't that creative.

The American practice of celebrating Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation carry some inherent problems and I think that the Eastern Churches' practice of combining them into one occasion makes more sense. Yes, at Baptism, infants are given their first Communion, albeit a tiny portion, as well as being Confirmed just as would an adult being Baptized. These are the Sacraments of Initiation to the family of God. They are gifts of the Trinity, not something to be earned through years of study for no price can be put on them. The American church has distorted the reception of these Sacraments by making Confirmation a "prize" to be taken at the end of 8 years simply to insure that the children attend 8 years of religious education. Would you withhold food from a child for an extended period of time until he learned all about it? Confirmation is spiritual food, something that should be given to him as soon as possible. Some other way should be found to attract children to a Catholic religious education. Or, I should say that some other way should be found to convince parents that it is their duty to see that their children have that education. Some have gone so far as to say that they must reach an age when they can decide for themselves to be confirmed as if confirmation is a choice at all. It was never meant to be. To reject it would be to reject a spiritual gift beyond value. Does a 14 year old understand God? I am 76 and I don't understand God! I don't expect to understand Him until I stand in His presence but I am grateful for any gifts of grace that I receive until that time comes. I may even have rejected Him during some periods of my life but thank God I had received His Holy Spirit in Confirmation to sustain me through those periods.

After returning me home from Ana's Confirmation, Anne Marie went to Robert Morris College to see Anthony and Joe off on their spring baseball trip to Florida. She was threatening to be a stole away on the bus but her duty to home and husband kept her from abandoning them..

Anthony got a present on Sunday. He arrived in Florida on his birthday !
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY
You hit the quarter century mark! Doesn't that make you feel old? Just kidding Anthony ... you have a long way to travel.

 I have received two of those emails that ask a few simple questions about your self. The answers from the one who sent it are already there and it is supposed to get people to know each other. One came from Canada and another from a fellow parishioner. It is a great idea but the questions reveal only superficial information. This web site serves the same purpose but digs a bit more deeply into my beliefs and thoughts while it covers my life history. I believe in sharing information. If people make a secrete of their lives how can there be trust or love. Someone said, "No man is an island". We do not exist alone. Privacy, I think, is over-rated and over abused. It is used as. an excuse to hide what we are ashamed for others to see, things that should not be done in the first place. Monday morning's reading from C. S. Lewis speaks to morality and the fact that we often associate the term with our relationship with others while forgetting to clean up our internal selves. Either way, "privacy" is used to hide our errors as we pretend that if not obvious to the rest of the world, no harm is done. But, the greatest harm is to ourselves and the conclusion, I think, is obvious.

Another point that dawned on me during Bible study this week concerned the fact that Jesus sent Judas away to "do what he must do". I had always thought it strange that Judas was "given permission" for his betrayal. Maybe he wasn't! How often has a parent known that a child is about to make a mistake but realizes that it is beyond control. The child is told, "Go ahead, its your life." To try to force the child, (probably an adult by now) would be futile and probably cause an undesirable family rift. We do not understand how but it is possible that a great good can come from this apparent error on the child's part and so we are resigned to their choice in life and know that nothing is unsalvageable. After many years of passing on what wisdom we have, as best we can, there arrives a time when we must say, "Go, do what you must do". and hope it doesn't hurt too much while we pray that the ultimate result will be good.

The baseball trip has been interesting for Joe and Anthony. They won their first game but it was down hill from there. It was sunny the first day and down hill from there. The head coach went to the hospital, as a result of an episode of high blood pressure but was released after e few hours. . The spanki'n new bus, recently purchased by the driver, was hit while parked on the street near the ballpark. The front of the small car that ran into it folded like an accordion but the air bags prevented serious injury to the driver. She said she didn't see it parked there! Damage to the buss was limited to dents and scratches. How do you not see a big tour bus?

Joe played well but his arm was hurting a bit early in the week. On Thursday he threw out three in a row trying to steal 2nd and he reported that his arm felt fine. That was obvious. A knowledgeable trainer on the staff at the ball park said that at this stage of his recovery from surgery he should have a full day's rest between catching the ball game and he had that rest on Wednesday.

I think we fooled Mother Nature. The Snow Directors have intimidated her to the point that she skirted us to the south with today's storm. I am afraid, however, that my family in Cleveland will not be as fortunate. I don't know if the boys will get any games played in Florida either ... rain is predicted along with the possibility of tornados. I pray everyone will be safe.

Don't forget about the clocks tomorrow night. We can view it as the end of winter with warmer temperatures next week. We just need to get past this week end. There was a time when the sun dial was always correct but that was a long time ago. It was time to work or fight a battle when the sun came up and time to  rest when it went down. It was nature's way.  The day was half over when the sun was the highest in the sky where ever you lived. When man invented clocks he complicated his life. Every town had it's own time and with the industrial revolution, the factory whistle announced the start of work, a break for lunch and then the time to go home. The railroads had a problem in establishing time tables for their passenger trains and time zones were established to accommodate them with everyplace within a given zone adhering to a common clock. But mechanical (or electronic) clocks do not differentiate winter from summer when the duration of daylight differs and it's beginning and ending shift. with the tilt of the earth. An attempt was made to get in tune with the sun and "daylight savings": time was invented, a misnomer if there ever was one. We do not either save or spend the daylight, just shift our activities to somewhat get back in synch with the sun, messing up the time of "high noon" in the process and further complicating our lives. It all comes down to the fact that nature is really the one in charge and as much as we want to take control it is futile and frustrating. The major religions of the world have it correct when they agree that the day ends when the sun goes down and a new day begins then, not at the arbitrary man defined time of midnight, which, indecently, is not the middle of the night. No, try as we may, we can not mess with mother nature, except for ... the Snow Directors ... and they, only in the wildest wandering of our minds.   Oh yes, Nature was in charge a long time ago and still is. Only our perception of things has changed. It is said that to give God a good laugh, tell Him your plans. He must also be very amused with our attempts to manipulate time.

 

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Good old mother nature also intended for us to be active but we rebel and want to be comfortable as much as possible. Yesterday I pampered mother nature and walked for 20 minutes on the treadmill. She rewarded me with a glucose level of 119 before supper. (80 - 140 is Normal) I MUST get in tune with Mother Nature ... on a regular basis.