c'est la vie

There was a mini miracle in our home at 6pm tonight .... I packed for my trip, it was uncomplicated and quick, everything in its place and a place for everything .... lots of space left and well below the 23kg allowance.  Accompanying this is my small rugsack and I am not FOR ONCE carrying 100 loose things ranging from jerseys to pens and mags.  Somehow I cannot get this right if we go somewhere in the province ... but did a remarkable job for an overseas trip.  I am nervous, excited and apprehensive all at once.  Suddenly at 9pm I decided that I do not want to leave my family.  Then I started missing my daughter in CT.  Then I started wondering who would be sitting on either side of me on the flight ... would I know them, and if not, would they be nice or really flippen irritating?  I have listened to advice from dozens of people, got wonderful reading material about the Holy Land from three very caring people and today when I was in the Reposit...

I am going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  I am going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  I say it twice, because I am still a little overwhelmed about this incredible opportunity that someone has given me.  A pilgrimage.  I have read about it.  I have seen programmes about it.  I know many priests who lead pilgrimages.  I work for Fr Chris who is a plethora of info about pilgrimages.   And now I too am going to have this incredible experience.  On Thursday I attend Bible Study classes.  Every week for 2 years already.  This class and the ladies who come to share and discuss and learn from Fr C, have formed a close bond.  I honestly feel that I immerse myself in these classes.   I get completely tearful as the time draws closer because I am overwhelmed by the thought that all the things I have read and all the lessons Fr C has given us, are going to become virtual as he leads us on this trip.  As we read a...

During Lent our Priest came up with an interesting concept of finding our "best selves" ..... to me it meant using where I was then, as a person, as a starting point and then working towards a "better self" and then on to a "best self".  I do not think the last term is reachable for most of us, including me.  Some may find it possible.  It was to be a process of also including looking at ourselves and very often how we react and relate to others.  When we do so in a "bad" way .... are we really being our "best selves"?  Is what we do and say to others and about others helping to build this change, or is it the very thing that feeds our staying the same? I saw changes in several people who had taken this concept seriously, including those leading the way .... it seemed if we bit our tongues a little more, spoke with gentleness more often, spoke to people instead of about them and generally ran our lives in a way that had us constantl...

I have been in this parish for many years.  In that time we very seldom sit in the same place twice.  We sort of gravitate to the same area, but different rows and different sides of them.  Not so for everyone ... some people have their spot and they sit there week in and week out ... years long ..... that is great for them also.   Now a few weeks ago the church was jam packed and we had to go and sit right up front. The very front.  And in addition we sat in a section that we have only sat in once or twice.  Suddenly we were almost in line with the altar.  For the first time I glimpsed the back of the priest while he was doing the Homily.  I could see the colour of the altar server's eyes.  It was the weirdest feeling.  In addition we were also at an angle so for the first time the people in the 2 adjacent sections could partly be seen from the front - which was a little disconcerting because it felt like people were looking at us a...