Spring Diet

Not everyone is slimming down for the summer.

Joey

Waiting in my car at the Walmart, I saw him approach from the side mirror. Instant decision...roll up the window or see what happens. It was a brilliantly beautiful day and the store was brand new so I felt safe. Not sure why. A voice said take a chance and talk to him if he talks to you. Tattooed and a little drunk he told me his story. He lived in a tent in the woods just beyond the parking lot, and had just survived one of our worst winters in history. It was his third tent. One had blown away and another had been destroyed by a mutually panicked deer. His name was Joey and he was 47 years old. He had lived in the woods for 2 years now. He was forbidden to beg from Walmart shoppers on the parking lot. So we agreed if he was stopped we were just friends having a conversation. His mother lived in senior housing high rise nearby but he was not allowed to visit her after being found sleeping in the lobby. He hadn't seen his father for decades and doubted he would even recognize him. His father had died in in his heart. Before they closed the nearby Catholic church Fr. Bob had let him sleep and shower in the abandoned convent, and even made dinner for him now and then. But that was all over now. Joey loved God, would read his bible in his tent until it got dark. He was currently into Corinthians. Once he went to a nearby Baptist church for bible study but forgot it wasn't Sunday. The church was closed. Proud that he was drug free for 4 months Joey admitted he still needed vodka in the morning to control the shakes. Frustrated he lamented he just couldn't take life much longer. The spider bites, the rain, the despair...it was all too much. On April 5 he had remembered it was his birthday and cried bitterly. There was no cards, no cake, no recognition by anyone that he was alive. We talked about AA and places for help, but he admitted he still loved alcohol too much to give it up. I told him unless he controlled it in the end it would win. Briefly, slightly wistfully he acknowledged the demon but then changed the subject. Although I was 10 minutes passed giving him a few bucks, I was drawn to give more even though he didn't ask for it. I told him that God didn't forget his birthday and gave him 20 dollars. He was someone and he got a birthday present no matter what he did with it. His joy was intense.

So there we were on the Walmart parking lot surrounded by people buying more stuff. It was strange to find a man with nothing at a place that boasts it has everything. I wondered who was richer Joey or the shoppers. I reminded Joey that Jesus had little of this world just like him. They were friends, Jesus and him, travelling the cruel way of the cross. But now and then He uses someone to remind the crucified that are not forgotten and are so loved in their passion and suffering. Joey and I parted as friends and he went off to Burger King for dinner. The sun was setting over all of the franchises and the cars continued their endless suburban parade. America 2010.

A Prayer For Now

A winter's night awaits the Spring. Blue sky...black trees...a guardian moon, God's universal plan continues despite the noises of humanity and its wasted energies. We are less than ants in the grand scheme and yet mysteriously loved by the Creator. What was important is not important, what should be important is too often ignored. To be alone with creation is to be in the presence of the Creator. Pause and ascend above Walmarts, car troubles, and American Idol. Discover you are loved and your return home is always waiting if you find the way. Be careful of the detours and realize when you are in a dead end.

Industrial Winter

Waiting to be Buried

It is a strange morning for winter, the temperature has reached 60 degrees. Although it is approaching noon the sky is dark. Winds are powerful and the rain is tropical. It is my job to make a delivery. The majestic church stands as a mighty reminder of a past. The thousands are gone. Their school is closed. Their convent is empty of nuns. A rectory built for many priests has but one. Crumbled sidewalks betray a maintenance abandoned. Surviving trees mix with their long dead brothers. Rain drips from rotten gutters. I have breached the barbed wire fence through the hidden entrance and made my delivery. A gentle soul has quieted the old dog long exhausted from his guardian duties. The task is done. I wonder where did all my people go. In suburbs perhaps where they harvest wonderful memories of another time...reciting creative names of celebrity nuns long buried? Memories...crowds of worshippers bustling home for a Sunday breakfast...altar boys extinguishing candles...ushers closing doors. Sunshine always paints memories. But today is not such a day. I know I am really looking at many Catholic churches in many American cities. The tribe has moved, and left behind their monuments. Their new churches are pitiful imitations of a majestic disciplined past. Perhaps they reflect the depth of their new century faith. I hope not. But now, here in the city it is raining. This wondrous church stands alone looking down on the collapsing houses of its ghostly congregation. Across the street a new African American Baptist church glares with the arrogance of victory. My church stares back waiting to be buried.

Anglicans Coming Home?

After almost 600 years the Anglicans are on the verge of a massive return to the Church of Rome. In the 16th century King Henry VIII declared himself head of the church in England. Some of his official acts included granting himself a divorce, confiscating all church wealth and closing the monasteries. Suddenly, he was the richest man in England. Church lands were given to his supporters. Church bells were melted down into cannons and church lead roofs were melted into bullets. Those who supported him were rewarded. Those who defied him were killed. Their number included Thomas More who was later declared a saint by the Roman Church. All priests and bishops were ordered to renounce their allegiance to the Pope, and slowly began the evolution of a schismatic faith, the Anglican church. But Catholicism was hard to destroy, and now the church of Rome has officially welcomed them back. Allowing them to keep their married priests, create new married priests, and retain their Anglican traditions and rituals. Many are said to wish a return since the Anglican church is increasingly ordaining women , practicing homosexuals and flirting with the concept of homosexual marriages. These are historic times for both the Roman and Anglican churches. Rome numbers 1 billion souls, the Anglicans 77 million. The numbers returning should be interesting. If it is a flood it could be common to see married priests in the church of Rome who are Anglican. Where is Henry VIII and what must he be thinking?

St. Michael the Archangel be Our Protector...

Today, September 29, is the Roman Catholic day to honor Saint Michael the Archangel. He is portrayed as a warrior saint slaying Lucifer shown in the form of a deadly dragon. Lucifer whose beauty was once so stunning that he challenged God, and was thus caste into Hell by Michael whose name is really a question he shouted across the heavens as he prepared to slay the dragon, "Who is like God?" . As Lucifer and his angels fell into their kingdom of fire they transformed from beauty to ugliness, thus beginning the strange bait of evil which often appears so beautiful but becomes so ugly. Defeated by God and His angels, Lucifer then set his target on God's wonderful creation, man.

With this as a background it is interesting to see the church on the coast of France (see picture) dedicated to Saint Michael who was proclaimed by the church as the protector of Europe. The 21st century finds Europe spiritually adrift after a brutal century of warfare. Its churches are empty. Some are turning into mosques. In Glasgow, Scotland there are now 33,000 Muslims. This week the Pope visited the Czech Republic the first atheist majority nation in Europe. The last century was a tough one for Europe: imperialism, fascism, Communism, materialism have taken their toll on its soul. Saint Michael the Archangel still stands on the coast of France, and the church, freed from its oppressors and pedophiles, begins the task of again converting Europe. We will not live to see the results, but I believe Michael will again prevail over evil.