Tiny and Short

Sorry about the little tiny print on the Mother Teresa post. I'm not sure how to change that.

I'm at Nordaggio's so that Sarah can say goodbye to Amy before she leaves for college. I came home from work early to spend time with her before she leaves. All the kids seem to be right where God wants them. What a blessed peace that gives me. God is good.

Mother Teresa

The priest who published Mother Teresa's writings after she asked that he burn them - I was almost at the point of believing he had made a tragic mistake. The media cannot communicate anything effectively that is more profound than a sound bite. One of the reasons the Church is so often misunderstood is because she speaks in a way that is, although simple, very complex. So JPII is accused of being a prude when he asks husbands not to lust after their wives. Muslims kill a nun in response to the media's summary of Benedict's quote regarding Islamic violence. And Mother Teresa is perceived to be one abandoned by her Lover when her thoughts and writings are published.

Fortunately, the Time article seemed to grasp the foundational concept of the blessing called suffering. Here is another example of a great analysis from Mere Commensts

The world thought it knew her, and thought it could dismiss her charity with a smile at her naive belief and childish enthusiasm. But it cannot do that now, so it dismisses her by claiming her as one of its own -- not seeing that Mother Teresa's life looms as an even greater and more inexplicable mystery for those who say in their hearts, "There is no God."

It is not a mysterious thing, after all, that a young and enthusiastic person should become disillusioned after a month or two of the squalor of the Black Hole of Calcutta. People lose their faith all the time — and people gain their faith all the time, and often they are the same people. What is mysterious is that after her visions of Jesus ceased, after all the inner consolations were taken away, after the locutions, what my evangelical brethren call “words of knowledge,” fell silent, still Mother Teresa clung to Christ. She retained her faith without the emotional accompaniments (and here let married Christians take heed). She continued to serve the poor of Calcutta even though the nagging little viper at her shoulder must have whispered to her, constantly, “This is all absurd.” Let us be absolutely clear about this: outside of the ambit of Christian culture, no one goes to Calcutta. What Mother Teresa did, no one does, not even for a year, without having been influenced by the message and example of Christ. And to live there for good, no one does at all without the virtue of faith...

Here with Mother Teresa we have.. a great goodness united to quiet suffering, unspeakable patience, and a kind of bright and steely charity, for how easy would it have been for Mother to try to salve her sores by “sharing” her feelings with her fellow sisters? A worldly man may enter the Peace Corps because he “believes” in it and wishes to do good; he will not stay there one month after he has ceased to believe. Mother Teresa never ceased to believe, even in and through the silence.

Dubiety is inseparable from the human condition. We must waver, because our knowledge comes to us piecemeal, sequentially, in time, mixed up with the static of sense impressions that lead us both toward and away from the truth we try to behold steadily. The truths of faith are more certain than the truths arrived by rational deduction, says Aquinas, because the revealer of those truths speaks with ultimate authority, but they are less certain subjectively, from the point of view of the finite human being who receives them yet who does not, on earth, see them with the same clarity as one sees a tree or a stone or a brook. It should give us Christians pause to consider that when Christ took upon himself our mortal flesh, he subjected himself to that same condition. He did not doubt; His faith was steadfast; yet He did feel, at that most painful of moments upon the Cross, what it was like to be abandoned by God. He was one with us even in that desert, a desert of suffering and love. Nor did the Gospel writers — those same whom the world accuses on Monday of perpetrating the most ingenious literary and theological hoax in history, and on Tuesday of being dimwitted and ignorant fishermen, easily suggestible — refuse to tell us of that moment.

In her love of Christ — and the world does not understand Christ, and is not too bright about love, either — Mother Teresa did not merely take up His cross and follow him. She was nailed to that Cross with him. She was one with Him — it was His greatest and most terrible gift — at the moment when he cried out to His Father, and the worldly Jews beneath mistook the name of God for Elijah. We Christians must trust that she is also one with Him now too, sharing in the glory of His triumph over darkness and the grave. “See,” He says, encouraging us to persevere and be fearless, “I have overcome the world.”

Vick Sick

There is the Vick scandal, which is outrageous. And now, in Tulsa, there is an animal rescue that seemed to be a great organization, but was dumping dead carcasses at the City Pound and sheltering dogs and cats that were skin and bones. Very sad.

But sadder still is the din and length of the outrage expressed - almost unparalleled. I can't think of another star scandal that has received such a loud and unanimous negative reaction. Even murder has not caused this kind of outrage. What has happened to our society that the only immoral act that we can all agree upon is animal cruelty?

If we labeled the full term baby who has his brains sucked out before forcing him through the birth canal a "puppy" would he receive more compassion?

And Then Full Again

Sarah returned home from Central America today! She'll only be home for a week before she heads off for school, but boy was it good to see her. She had such a blessed time there. She, Chris and I went to dinner together after I returned from Denver and she joyfully and animatedly told us about the wonderful people she met and the ways she was touched by God. Thank you, Lord.

The Nest is Now Empty

It was sadder than I thought it would be. I was OK until we reached home and I saw Mary's stuff on the dining room table - remnants of her cutting pictures out and putting them in frames.

Chris cooked a steak dinner for us to celebrate our new beginning as a couple. What a sweet thing to do. I'm sure glad I don't have to worry about HIM going off to college!

What A Day

And it's ending with me at the computer, waiting for Mary to come home for her last night, listening to a digital stop watch beeping every 15 minutes because I can't figure out how to deactivate it.

Actually it started yesterday when I realized I had forgotten something VERY important, then sat in a meeting which I was supposed to leave early to attend my boss's boss's boss's meeting - "shit" I said to my staunch Baptist co-worker when I realized I was 30 minutes late. I decided to call in instead of walk in late. So I sat and listened to accolades being given about the woman who replaced me in my old job. Today, after working 3 hours on a powerpoint that crashed without hope of recovery, I decided that the self-pity that I've been trying to overcome is really quite comforting. I've decided to keep it for warmth.

But then I read my kids' blogs and thought I would cry from happiness, and received a phone call from my oldest, sharing about our days and the advice she had given her sister. And I decided that life is indeed beautiful.

One of the things we talked about was how differently God's view of life is - usually exactly the opposite of the world's values. What would the world's Beatitudes be?

Blessed are the rich for theirs is the life of luxury, without having to know of the existence of another world.

Blessed are those who do not suffer, for they shall live life invincibly, in need of no Other.

Blessed are the confident and proud, for they shall evoke fear in the poor of spirit.

Blessed are the thin and beautiful for they shall be lusted after and bedded frequently.

Blessed are the drippingly sarcastic, for they shall remain untouched by piercing truth.

Blessed are the sophisticated, for they shall mimic maturity.

Blessed are those who evoke no criticism, for they shall be popular.

Blessed are those who live life without God, for they shall be called fun.

Tiger Woods

That man is amazing. The PGA was held in Tulsa this year and it was hotter than blazes out there all week. Temperatures over 100 and heat index 10 degrees higher. Anyway, I read that Tiger is the first golfer to approach golf as a true sport, involving strenuous training and overall fitness. After winning the PGA, bringing his total championship wins to 13 (6 more to go to beat Jack Nicholas's 18), he said in a news conference that his physical fitness was one of the major factors that gave him the winning edge. "I felt as good heading onto the 18th hole as I did on the 1st." Anybody who has experienced a Tulsa summer will understand how amazing that is!

Chris was able to volunteer last week, selling ice cream for a non-profit group. He thought he died and went to heaven! He's really getting into golf since Liz re-introduced him to it. Liz worked at a golf course in Grand Rapids. She and Chris went out a few times when she was here and he's been teeing off ever since. He's pretty darn good too, considering he hasn't golfed in a loonnnnggg time. They talked me into going once and, well, we'll just say that I paid to play, but ended up watching since I was slowing us down so much and there were people behind us. I'm trying to get into this so Chris and I can play together but truly I decided the only thing more boring than playing golf is watching it :) I called Mary at the end and said, "I've been to hell and back" (quoting her comment in a call to her friend Gretchen as we were ending a mile-long hike in the woods a few weeks ago).

Anyway, back to Tiger. An amazing athlete and a true role model. How many athletes can win as much as he does and still have so many people cheering him on to win?

Oh Blogspot!....

OK, they upgraded their templates and I've spent WAY TOO LONG moving all my links over. And now? I think I liked the old one better :) Thoughts anyone?

What in the heck are all those wrenches doing there? Edit icons, I know. Too big! The blog's feng shui has been greatly disturbed.

Next Day: Oh. The wrenches are only there in "customize" mode. :)

Sarah Has Started a Blog!

Sarah has started her blog (see sidebar)! She hasn't actually written anything yet, but heck, she has an address (and a blog in draft). She called today and sounded really good - she's learned so much on her trip, which is why she's starting the blog. She and Liz are going to meet up in Honduras on the 18th and call me! I can't wait.

Seven Minutes Before My Next Meeting

But this blog is short. Three of my five kids have blogs now (see links at left). A fourth is going to start one soon to share her thoughts about her trip to Central America. We may have to wait awhile for Mary - facebook will probably be her milieu for awhile as a new college student.

This is fun. I don't often get to share their more profound insights - I love it.

I am David

I watched the best movie today on the Idependent Film Channel (550 on DirecTV) - I Am David. It's about a young boy who escapes from a Stalinist labor camp in Bulgaria and travels through Italy trying to get to Denmark where he's been told to deliver an important letter. It had strong themes about love and beauty. I liked it so much I ordered one and had it sent to Theresa (it had a message in it about trust that I thought she would appreciate right about now).

If I can figure out how this blog works I will post a list of my favorite movies. Chris and I are big movie fans - we go to one at least once a week.