Last Saturday morning the Christmas spirit took hold and most of the inside decorations were put in place. However, Some of them stayed in the box. They are either just to decrepit, like me, or just too much for me to cope with. The most meaningful, either because they define the season for me or they have a sentimental meaning, are in their places.

Please don't expect me to be upset because stores and businesses wish us a "Happy Holiday", or people send "Holiday Greetings". I am quite happy that they do so. It is not the function of business to promote religion and I am pleased that they recognize the specialty of the season for many faiths and beliefs. Many complain that the Holiday is too commercialized anyway so it doesn't make sense to me to ask them to keep their commercialism out of our "Holy Day" and to promote it at the same time. It is a joyous season in many respects so let's enjoy it and stop introducing discord because we can't have it all our way.

It is up to the church to put the Christian meaning into our Holy Day of Christmas and since the church is its individual members, that boils down to you and me. For myself, I will be anticipating the 2nd coming of Christ in this Advent season and I will be celebrating the birth of Jesus on Christmas and the season that follows. After all, every birth is the dawn of a new life and Christmas is the day we celebrate the miraculous birth of one who came to ask you and I to change the world. I will celebrate both the Holy Day and the holiday/ They can coexist quite well in my heart.

One of my Christmas elf's came by on Saturday afternoon to help with the decorations and was surprised to find most of it done. However, I put Anne Marie to work helping with the outdoor decorations ... or should I say symbols. She helped check the lights in the relative comfort of the garage and then we prepared a mast (2 X 4) for the Christmas Star. It always had hung on my 6' wooden fence but now the fence is plastic and only 5' high. When it was all assembled we took it out and clamped it in place. Then we took the lighted wire frame of The Baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph out and put it in place. The extension cord was connected and we were done, hardly noticing the sleet and freezing rain. (but glad to get into the house).

Years ago, the evergreens and even the tree in front of the house were festooned with white lights. I often wished that I could put out a sign that said, "My lights are a symbol of the light He brought to the world", but now it is obvious by my display. I finally found out how to put the message across. Less is more!

There are other decorations scattered about the house but not anywhere near those of past years. I would not like to reduce them any more than I already have.

To return to my previous comments about the holiday, I find no fault with more elaborate displays, indeed I enjoy them. Santa brings us the spirit of giving, and the candy canes, elves, animals and other creatures along with lighted trees and entire houses bring joy and gladness to the winter. That has got to be good. Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas to all ... everyone!.

I was supposed to join my son and his family along with Grandpa and Grandma Marx for Caitlin's birthday dinner Saturday evening. It was mutually agreed that with driving conditions what they were, I would not join them at the restaurant. Instead, Anne Marie and I went to nearby Ashford House. My driveway was so covered in ice that the car wanted to go sideways but once we got into the street it was OK. The smart people had stayed home so we got a parking place near the door of the restaurant. As it was, walking was an adventure. We had a delightful meal in a great atmosphere and made our way back home. Anne Marie waited for a while hoping the temperature would rise a bit and when it was obvious that would not happen 'till after midnight, she made her way home without incident.

Joe, on the other hand, was working late at Sears and when he came out his car was covered in ice. He had no choice but to wait until the ice was melted by the defrosters since scrapers (if he had one) were of little use due to the thickness of the ice.

Sunday I spoke with Tom and he said it was well that I didn't try to join them. Kelly fell down their front stairs and the restaurant parking lot was a sheet of ice. I have enough trouble with the glare from the lights and the driving conditions would have been an added strain on my peace of mind. You may have noticed ... I value my peace of mind. (at least the piece that's left.)

Sunday afternoon Mikey and I  went out in the rain. Anne Marie made a pork roast with dumplings, gravy, sauerkraut, applesauce and vegetables. It was great. She had taken the Christmas decorations that I didn't want and they were displayed beautifully. She had rescued many things from the trash can and I was glad to se them preserved and put to use. It gave me a warm feeling to know they were in a good home.

Last week, I said that Anthony would like to be traded to a team with a home field. This coming season the Sliders will never have 'last bats" ... always the visitors on someone else's field facing someone else's fans. I stand corrected! He said that, as one of the most veteran players on the team, he would be eligible for the top pay scale. Besides that, he would love to have the opportunity to lead this team of rookies to the playoffs. He has that much confidence in himself both as a player and a team leader.

You got to love that guy! This is what I have been talking about. You take wherever you are and deal with it as if it is where you want to be, putting your best efforts into it. The first dividend is that you are a lot happier than if you moped and grumbled, wishing you were someplace else. The second dividend is that you will be recognized as a leader and a person with a strong work ethic, ... always a prelude to advancement. This is "living success" and I promise, the rewards will be inescapable. Isn't it wonderful when you can use your grandchildren as an example of the right way to live!

And ... speaking of the right way to live, I invite you to read about Louis Quinn .He was a remarkable person, not only for what he personally did but in that he got others involved, enriching their lives in the process. We all can not be like him but we can do just a little of what he did in whatever way we can.

Isn't it wonderful to get a message like this:

So far it does appear that his doctors had a fantastic Friday.  The initial report says that he is cancer free!!!  :)

Do prayers help? I believe they do. In the movie "Shadow Land" When asked if he thought it did any good to pray for his wife, stricken with cancer, C. S. Lewis is depicted as saying, "I don't pray to change God's mind, I pray to help myself." And so, I know that any prayer brings us closer to God. That in itself is good. The more we pray, the closer we are. In addition, any prayer, regardless of purpose, is an acknowledgement of our dependence on Him and ipso facto is a prayer of praise. I am sure that God is pleased with that. (It is very beneficial to us for Him to be pleased with us.) For years I questioned the value of praying for good test results and such as that until I realized that God does not run on Central Standard time nor is governed by our calendar. Our prayers reach Him exactly when needed so when we are praying for the results of a MRI, or surgery to be good, He is receiving the plea before the inception of the illness, be that months or years (of mortal time) earlier. If it is within the parameters of His pan, he can intervene. And finally, it is always in His power to send the grace of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the person involved to either defeat the malady or accept it in peace and love. The latter, of course, requires even more faith than many possess. But, as the circle began, that can be improve with prayer.
 

Monday morning I arrived at the blood lab at about 7:15. It was cold and windy but there was a parking space near the door. I was processed quickly and the three vials of blood were drawn just as fast and quite painlessly. I was then off to Ashford House for my traditional Eggs Benedict. (reward) The restaurant was empty, save for myself until I was almost finished. People began to arrive. There was a group of 8 ladies from the 8:00 AM mass at St Julie and Barbara M came by my table for a bit of conversation. She knew I must have just gone for a blood draw. She not only reads these pages but we have met there on previous occasions. My life is an open book. I don't know why some people get so upset about their privacy. Are they ashamed of how they live?

The Albano boys have been quite busy. Joe has started a new quarter at school and is pleased with his classes. (He got top grades in his last quarter.) He also enjoys his job at Sears. Marc continues to send out resumes. He is ready to tackle anything. He and Anthony are kept busy refereeing basketball games. The Albano boys are in great demand for their knowledge of the game and their handling of the games. It not only keeps them busy but it keeps them in pocket money (and more). Marc has turned to becoming a small investor, delving into the stock market on the basis that he invests what he can afford to  lose.

Tuesday evening it started to snow. By 9 PM Grandpa's Guardian Angel had become Grandpa's Winter Wonder Land. The lights around the gazebo, a year round feature, had become Christmas lights. It is a time of magical transformation, one of the miracles of nature, a scene of peace and purity bringing a sense of serenity. All was hushed. The ambient light was all that was needed for this picture of perfection, peace and joy. This is the part of my Christmas decorations provided by God.

My daily inspirational messages from Covenant House bring me more words of wisdom than I can possibly use as a one per week feature so I decided to pass more of these little gems on to you by scattering them through this page. The next one that you will find below comes from Dale Carnegie. He is noted in the business world for providing advice and training in business and in particular in salesmanship.  I was privileged to take a couple evening courses based on his books. Every one knows of his book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People". The title almost prompts one to regard him as a huckster, revealing the tricks of the trade to get people to believe your sales pitch. Nothing could be further from the truth. You win friends and influence people by "being genuinely interested in them and their needs". Carnegie stresses that the key here is being genuine in your concern for others. Fakery will not do it and indeed will backfire on the perpetrator. He stress that one must become selfless to be a success. To be a good salesman you must listen to your prospective customer and determine his real needs. If your product or service meets those needs or can be made to meet those needs you can make the sale but, he stresses, never sell something to someone who does not need it. Dale Carnegie's philosophy is a great one for life in general. Be genuinely interested in others. And ... if you want friends, if you want people to like you, don't tell them about yourself, ... ask about them ... then listen  ... intently ... and learn to be genuinely concerned about them and their needs.
 

In the "It ain't necessarily so" department I find the recent revelation about the primates ability to not only recognize the correct order of numbers but to remember their scattered positions on a computer screen after they were blocked from view to be a validation of what I already knew. Animals can and do reason. We were taught in Catholic school that the difference between people and animals was that animals couldn't reason. Even at that time I found it hard to believe. I know that my dog thinks. I am tempted to believe that the denial of thought and reasoning in animals may be the work of our prime menace ... Ego. We want to believe that we are totally unique and superior. The last thing we want is for someone to tell us that we share the ability to reason with a lesser species. Why, the next thing they will tell us is that we have common ancestors. Ooops! they have. And that as well has been denied as being anti-religious. But could this denial be vicious old Ego at work again?  I have heard some desperate and far fetched explanations of why the story in Genesis is factual including the one about God creating an elaborate hoax to make scientists believe the world is millions of years old. But why would God, the pinnacle of truth, want to deceive us?

How God created us is one of those truths that may remain a mystery forever and that is OK. The fact is that he did create everything and He could have done it any way He wanted. The fact is that ultimately, there can be no conflict between science and religion because, and I repeat myself, God made everything. There can only be conflict due to man's perception of the world and heaven and man's Ego as it plays tricks with the truth.

What does make us special is our spirituality. But our spirituality is in itself a mystery. How and when it was imparted to us, or rather how and when the mortal is joined with the spiritual (or visa versa) is beyond our mortal understanding. Was it always there or was there a moment in time when God decided that this particular species would be His chosen ones? That is not important. What is important is that whatever happened, it was God's will and for that I am grateful. I don't need to understand everything I know about it.

This also leads to the question of when life begins. The people of several states are moving to declare, legally, that a person exists at the time of conception. There are many ramifications of this concept including the resultant declaration that the intentional abortion of this person is murder. There are also several other aspects which would severely complicate our laws. I am not able to make this determination but I do have a thought about it.

I firmly believe that at the time of conception there is, at the least, a viable potential for a human life, both spiritual and mortal. It is a known fact that the time of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell. There is, beyond any doubt a living organism with its inherited DNA controlling its own evolution from that single cell to personhood even though it is completely dependent on it's mother for nourishment and protection from the atmosphere in which it will ultimately live. There is no way (at this time) to determine if spirit and mortality are joined as one or when that happens. However, this is the way we have been made to continue the life of our species in this world. God made us that way. Having said that, I believe that there is a moral obligation to sustain that potential life to the point when it becomes self sufficient and that includes birth and providing for nurturing beyond birth.

This, I believe is a moral obligation that goes beyond any need for civil law. I also believe that those who agree with me need to promote this philosophy among our brothers and sisters. You don't do that by attacking others or by forced compliance. They must believe it or they will find a way to have their way. When Ego convinces us that our wants and needs have priority over that of others, or over moral law, then civil laws are ignored and broken ... indeed, ...  looked upon as a challenge to be surmounted. Selflessness can not be legislated, our Egos will not tolerate it.
 

Wednesday Morning Mikey had me up at 6:40, too early for me on that wintery day. After he came back in the house from his snow adventure, we went back to bed ... both of us. The next thing I knew it was 8:45, ... the morning half shot. By then the sun was shining bright and another photo was crying to be taken. The statues in the garden were wearing white capes and rounded cones of snow capped everything. About 4" of snow had fallen and all was white and hushed. This is what I see as I enjoy my meals in the kitchen and it serves as my winter resort.

Joe arrived just before lunch, after his last class for the day. We had  a sandwich and he went to work, firing up the snow blower and clearing the driveway and sidewalks as well as the patio. That gives Mikey a place to roam a bit until he finds the lowest depths of snow and begins making paths. We were getting a little "lake effect" snow at the time and although it looked fierce for short times it didn't amount to a hill of beans. In any case, Thanks, Joe.

I invested (I try never to just spend time) part of the day in preparing and sending out the weekly news letter to our parish "Include Me" members. Liz always updates the "In the Parish Spotlight" feature but her mother is in the hospital and Liz needed to be there. Let's join in prayer for both of them and ask God to watch over them both. The spotlight will get updated late this week but that is OK. There are things more important.

I also added a snippet of code to each of the pages in the "Our Parish" section of the web site and uploaded them to the server. They will now be included in the free service Google provides allowing us to analyze the visitor traffic to the parish web site. Having done so, I took a look at the data gathered since November 27 when the service was started. We have had 268 visits since then and they came from as far away as Taiwan and Australia. It was interesting to see how many people arrived at the site through search engines and how many through links from other web sites. To see the information available check out Google
 

Sr. Gael conducted the monthly discussion of "Know Your Faith" and her subject for the evening was the Liturgical Calendar. We talked about the liturgical seasons of the Church and why they are arranged as they are, their purpose and durations. We discussed the meaning and importance of the Triduum culminating in the celebration of the Easter Vigil Mass, and the fact that on every Sunday of the year we celebrate Easter. We spoke of the fact that we follow the Jewish tradition of measuring the day from sunset to sunset which is why Saturday evening masses are a Sunday celebration, although we do stretch the concept a bit with 4 PM masses on Saturday and 6 PM masses on Sunday. We spoke of the fact that for many centuries, the birth of Jesus was not celebrated at all since it was not considered important to the mission of Christ and that the time in December for the celebration was selected to coincide with the pagan celebration of the beginning of the lengthening of daylight in winter. (Jesus was most likely born in October but that is not certain.) Many other subjects were brought up in passing. It was not a large group, partially due to the cold and snow, and it is surprising how little people know about their church and how much miss-information abounds. We have an "Our Faith" section of the parish web site with a page of resources called "Know Your Faith". Once I get all these pages into the new Google Analytical system we can determine if people actually visit this section of the parish web site and figure out a way to grab their interest.  I have come to the point where I want to know the details of why I am at mass every Sunday. When you know what it is all about you tend to be there because you want to be there not because someone has told you that you must be there.

Besides taking Mikey for his bi-weekly grooming Thursday, Joe came after class and Anne Marie came by and we enjoyed a nice lunch at Ashford House. She had taken a day off to go shopping and took a break for lunch. Afterward, Joe took a nap before reporting to work for his 2 - 10 shift. After my period of exercise and a short rest, I added more of the parish web site pages to the Google tracking system. I figure that task is about 1/3 done.

And so another week comes to a close. I know the first day of the week is Sunday but the last day of my week is Friday noon. For those who work a "normal" job the first day is Monday. Like the Liturgical season we all have our way of measuring time depending on the purpose of the measurement. We mortals are governed by time, an arbitrary measurement based on events of nature or happenings in our lives. It is so important to us now that it is extremely difficult ... no ... impossible for our mortal and very limited minds to envision an existence not tied to it. But that is where we are headed, if indeed we are headed in the right direction. We will enjoy a life not constrained by time measurements of any kind. If you find that difficult to comprehend, just accept it and along with that, accept the fact that life we are offered, with God, is equally incomprehensible to our limited mortal minds. Eternity is NOW. Every moment, if I can borrow a mortal term ... and I must, having no other way to express it, ...is NOW.

Maybe that is why we are urged to live in the present, for that is not only the most important part of our lives but the only part over which we can exert any control. In addition, if we master that ability, we are conditioning ourselves for eternal life.