Living Bare

Nice to have you back. Sorry about the blues. Coffee Cake is a nice thing to make when you are feeling down.

I am relieved the election is over. The second I voted I felt relieved, released to live with the outcome no matter what.

I was in Rockefeller Plaza on election night. It was a fantastic experience to be in the middle of a history making event. The energy was unbelievable.
As with everything there is work ahead of us. How do we pull the country back together? Can I reconcile with the woman who called me evil and said I didn't know Jesue bec. of my vote? I don't know. I'll get back to you on that one.

I just read the latest post (by his brother) on David W.'s Web site. And I immediately prayed for him. I'm hopeful that his steroid treatments will deliver a window of improvement to him and his family.

I can understand David K.'s blues.

I heard an amazing homily on the radio a couple of Sunday's ago. The topic was All Soul's Day. It's a Catholic homily, and the topic of Purgatory comes up; but you certainly don't need to embrace Purgatory to be comforted by the broader message concerning the afterlife -- and the connection we retain to those we temporarily say goodbye to. I've just posted this homily on my Web site, and I invite everyone to take a listen:

http://www.coffeeshoptimes.com/PastoralReflections-DonFischer11-2-08.mp3

The homily was delivered by Monsignor Don Fischer of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Richardson, Tx.

We live on borrowed time, borrowed body, borrowed relationship..

When we are borned, time continues to fade away, as we get older and hopefully wiser.

Every minute past is every minute lost, and every minute alive is every minute extra.

Strong attachment to transcient things will only create more suffering. Whether we are attached to our body, our health, our friends, our family, our money, our careers, all will be gone on our final day. But not being attached does not mean giving up. Every thing has its purpose, its way of life, and its objectives to fullfill.

So what's yours? How does one lead a meaningful life? Are we wasting our life away all the time?

I guess the best approach is to do our best in whatever karma brings us.

God grieves. God weeps. God feels pain.

As a pastor, one of the things I cringe at, particularly when discussing death, are those well meaning souls who will tell us about "God's will."

It was not and is not God's will that we die. That was never part of the plan. It is a regrettable consequence of The Fall. But when Adam and Eve were created "in God's image", I believe that part of the image they received from God was immortality.

So when anyone dies, I think it breaks God's heart. I think his reaction must be something along the lines of, "It was never supposed to be this way..."