Quiet Center

Sometimes the Kingdom Breaks In....

2014-01-27T11:36:00.000-05:00

As a college student educated in the 1960's and 70's, I became acquainted with the poetry and other writings of the Russian poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

Years later, I read his Precocious Autobiography. One passage moved me to tears. I share it with you during these dark and cold days of endless winter, as a sign that, at times, even in terrible circumstances, the light shines and the Kingdom breaks through:

It took place in Moscow in 1944. Yevtushenko and his mother stood in a crowd of Russians, watching 20,000 German prisoners of war marching through the streets, most to die in Russian forced-labor camps. This is what Yevtushenko said of the occasion — he was eleven years old at the time and, like every Russian, knew what had happened at Stalingrad:

The pavements swarmed with onlookers, cordoned off by soldiers and police. The crowd was mostly women — Russian women with hands roughened by hard work, lips untouched by lipstick, and with thin hunched shoulders which had borne half of the burden of the war. Every one of them must have had a father or a husband, a brother or a son killed by the Germans. They gazed with hatred in the direction from which the column was to appear.

At last we saw it. The generals marched at the head, massive chins stuck out, lips folded disdainfully, their whole demeanor meant to show superiority over their plebian victors.

‘They smell of perfume, the bastards,’ someone in the crowd said with hatred. The women were clenching their fists. The soldiers and policemen had all they could do to hold them back.

All at once something happened to them. They saw German soldiers, thin, unshaven, wearing dirty blood-stained bandages, hobbling on crutches or leaning on the shoulders of their comrades; the soldiers walked with their heads down. The street became dead silent — the only sound was the shuffling of boots and the thumping of crutches.

Then I saw an elderly women in broken-down boots push herself forward and touch a policeman’s shoulder, saying,’Let me through.’ There must have been something about her that made him step aside. She went up to the column, took from inside her coat something wrapped in a colored handkerchief and unfolded it. It was a crust of black bread. She pushed it awkwardly into the pocket of a soldier, so exhausted that he was tottering on his feet. And now from every side women were running toward the soldiers, pushing into their hands bread, cigarettes, whatever they had. The soldiers were no longer enemies. They were people.

This reminds me that the actions of one person can bring light and life to moments that are dark and hopeless.

We have choices to make, you and I. We can go on hating and resenting--or, we can reconcile.

How can we act this day to bring light to another's darkness?

Steven D. Olson

Holy Family. Our Family.

2013-12-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

A priest I know recently told the story of a lawyer who lived a considerable distance from her father. Months had passed since they had seen each other. When her father called to ask when she might visit, the daughter came up with a laundry list of reasons why she couldn’t come to see him--her court schedule, meetings, new clients, work, work, work. When she finished her list of reasons why she could not come to visit, her father asked, “When I die, do you intend to come to my funeral?” The daughter’s response was immediate: “Dad, I can’t believe that you would ask me that! Of course I would come!” To which the father replied, “Good! Forget the funeral and come now! I need you now more than I will then!”

On this Feast of the Holy Family, we are reminded that modern families, like the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, have to cope with many challenges and stressors. One challenge that many families face is the challenge of finding time to be together.

An added challenge today is that when families are together in the same space, each person is often tethered to their own technology. They may all be in the same room and still not interacting with each other.

What challenge is your family facing? Serious illness? Unemployment? Money problems? Or is your family coping with the loss of a loved one this Christmas?

When you look just beneath the sentimentality of the Christmas story, you see just how tough life was for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph:

Mary’s pregnancy in the little town of Nazareth made for confusion and stress in her relationship with her fiancé, Joseph, and nearly caused a scandal in that little town. Joseph even considered divorce before the angel intervened in a dream. Mary barely escaped being stoned…

Then there was the tax-census ordered by the Roman Emperor, requiring this young woman and her betrothed to make a long journey in Mary’s last days of pregnancy. Arriving in Bethlehem, they were forced to have their child in the squalor of a cave.

Unable to enjoy the wonder of the birth of their child—robbed of the joy of celebration--this young couple was suddenly uprooted and forced to flee to a neighboring country to protect their newborn from the terroristic threats of King Herod.

By the time Jesus begins His public ministry, we no longer hear anything about Joseph. Mary, now a widow, had to face the present and the future alone.

Her son’s public ministry must have taken a toll on her. Old Simeon had predicted that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul. It must have been downright unpleasant the day when Jesus returned home to Nazareth (Mark 3:21) when his relatives considered taking Him by force, convinced that Jesus was out of His mind. Not a pleasant experience for any family, no matter how holy.

And then there was the growing hostility by the Jewish authorities that must have caused great pain for both Mary and Jesus, as it became increasingly clear that Jesus would have to pay for His mission by dying.

Finally, we have the image of the Blessed Mother, standing at the foot of the cross, enduring the crucifixion of her son.

How did this family, how does any family, survive all this?

Through love and faith. They survived all their crises through love for each other and faith in God.

If life in our families is difficult or stressful, let’s remember what the Holy Family did: they kept God at the center of their lives and worshipped regularly.

If you have been estranged from God and God's people, consider a New Year's resolution to return home to your faith family.

Steven D. Olson

That Elusive Christmas Spirit...

2013-12-21T10:04:00.001-05:00

One Christmas I read a newspaper article written by a reporter who had been searching for the meaning of “the Christmas spirit.” When he concluded his quest, he rated this answer as the best: “It’s in your heart. It feels warm and glowy. You can’t buy it, and you can’t get it from anybody else.”

That’s the popular concept of “the Christmas spirit”—it’s inside us. We just have to “get” it. So, does it hit when we unpack our decorations and start playing Christmas music? Does it require a Christmas tree? One strand of lights? Two? Is it more presents? Or does it come down to out-dazzling our neighbors with a bigger outdoor display? Does it come when we share food our family served when we were children? Or when certain special people are with us?

In pursuit of the Christmas Spirit, I decided to re-read the Christmas story in Luke. I wanted to study the reaction of those shepherds—working the night shift!—who were the first people to get the news of the birth of Baby Jesus. After seeing Him, we’re told that they returned to their sheep “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:8-20).

Shepherds in those days weren’t the gentle, soft-spoken people that greeting cards portray. More likely they were rough-cut and hardy. When the Bible says they were glorifying and praising God, it’s describing something like the last second of a playoff game when the home team wins, and the whooping and hollering cut loose! That was likely the only kind of “glorifying” they knew how to do…and they were awestruck!

Christ’s birth, enthusiastically celebrated by hard-working shepherds, changed everything! That baby was the living proof that God really did love the world so much “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

And that baby brings us back to the question, “What is the Christmas spirit?” I believe it’s a deep-seated joy in knowing that the story of the Christ Child is gloriously true! Many will celebrate Christmas this year, experience gifts and excitement, but never connect the celebration with the reason for it.

For many of us, capturing the Christmas Spirit will be especially challenging this year. Many are out of work and the economic picture has deteriorated for many of us. Some of us have lost friends or family members this year. For many of us, the trappings of Christmasses past have changed or are gone altogether.

That’s the difference between those who really have the Christmas spirit and those who don’t. For those who have it, you could remove the trees, lights, presents, food, and music, and their joy would still be intact!

That's the Spirit I'm praying for today....the only gift that matters.

Steven D. Olson
Solstice, 2013

People Are Often Unreasonable....

2013-12-03T15:28:00.001-05:00

Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by Kent M. Keith.]

Thanksgiving

2013-11-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving:

Anne Frank

I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God.

Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People...

2013-11-20T11:48:00.003-05:00

It's all over the web, but, in case you missed it, here are the 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People by Cloe Madanes:

1. Be afraid, be very afraid, of economic loss. In hard economic times, many people are afraid of losing their jobs or savings. The art of messing up your life consists of indulging these fears, even when there’s little risk that you’ll actually suffer such losses. Concentrate on this fear, make it a priority in your life, moan continuously that you could go broke any day now, and complain about how much everything costs, particularly if someone else is buying. Try to initiate quarrels about other people’s feckless, spendthrift ways, and suggest that the recession has resulted from irresponsible fiscal behavior like theirs.

Fearing economic loss has several advantages. First, it’ll keep you working forever at a job you hate. Second, it balances nicely with greed, an obsession with money, and a selfishness that even Ebenezer Scrooge would envy. Third, not only will you alienate your friends and family, but you’ll likely become even more anxious, depressed, and possibly even ill from your money worries. Good job!

Exercise: Sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and, for 15 minutes, meditate on all the things you could lose: your job, your house, your savings, and so forth. Then brood about living in a homeless shelter.

2. Practice sustained boredom. Cultivate the feeling that everything is predictable, that life holds no excitement, no possibility for adventure, that an inherently fascinating person like yourself has been deposited into a completely tedious and pointless life through no fault of your own. Complain a lot about how bored you are. Make it the main subject of conversation with everyone you know so they’ll get the distinct feeling that you think they’re boring. Consider provoking a crisis to relieve your boredom. Have an affair (this works best if you’re already married and even better if you have an affair with someone else who’s married); go on repeated shopping sprees for clothes, cars, fancy appliances, sporting equipment (take several credit cards, in case one maxes out); start pointless fights with your spouse, boss, children, friends, neighbors; have another child; quit your job, clean out your savings account, and move to a state you know nothing about.

A side benefit of being bored is that you inevitably become boring. Friends and relatives will avoid you. You won’t be invited anywhere; nobody will want to call you, much less actually see you. As this happens, you’ll feel lonely and even more bored and miserable.

Exercise: Force yourself to watch hours of mindless reality TV programs every day, and read only nonstimulating tabloids that leave you feeling soulless. Avoid literature, art, and keeping up with current affairs.

3. Give yourself a negative identity. Allow a perceived emotional problem to absorb all other aspects of your self-identification. If you feel depressed, become a Depressed Person; if you suffer from social anxiety or a phobia, assume the identity of a Phobic Person or a Person with Anxiety Disorder. Make your condition the focus of your life. Talk about it to everybody, and make sure to read up on the symptoms so you can speak about them knowledgeably and endlessly. Practice the behaviors most associated with that condition, particularly when it’ll interfere with regular activities and relationships. Focus on how depressed you are and become weepy, if that’s your identity of choice. Refuse to go places or try new things because they make you too anxious. Work yourself into panic attacks in places it’ll cause the most commotion. It’s important to show that you don’t enjoy these states or behaviors, but that there’s nothing you can do to prevent them.

Practice putting yourself in the physiological state that represents your negative identity. For example, if your negative identity is Depressed Person, hunch your shoulders, look at the floor, breathe shallowly. It’s important to condition your body to help you reach your negative peak as quickly as possible.

Exercise: Write down 10 situations that make you anxious, depressed, or distracted. Once a week, pick a single anxiety-provoking situation, and use it to work yourself into a panic for at least 15 minutes.

4. Pick fights. This is an excellent way of ruining a relationship with a romantic partner. Once in a while, unpredictably, pick a fight or have a crying spell over something trivial and make unwarranted accusations. The interaction should last for at least 15 minutes and ideally occur in public. During the tantrum, expect your partner to be kind and sympathetic, but should he or she mention it later, insist that you never did such a thing and that he or she must have misunderstood what you were trying to say. Act injured and hurt that your partner somehow implied you weren’t behaving well.

Another way of doing this is to say unexpectedly, “We need to talk,” and then to barrage your partner with statements about how disappointed you are with the relationship. Make sure to begin this barrage just as your partner is about to leave for some engagement or activity, and refuse to end it for at least an hour. Another variation is to text or phone your partner at work to express your issues and disappointments. Do the same if your partner is out with friends.

Exercise: Write down 20 annoying text messages you could send to a romantic partner. Keep a grudge list going, and add to it daily.

5. Attribute bad intentions. Whenever you can, attribute the worst possible intentions to your partner, friends, and coworkers. Take any innocent remark and turn it into an insult or attempt to humiliate you. For example, if someone asks, “How did you like such and such movie?” you should immediately think, He’s trying to humiliate me by proving that I didn’t understand the movie, or He’s preparing to tell me that I have poor taste in movies. The idea is to always expect the worst from people. If someone is late to meet you for dinner, while you wait for them, remind yourself of all the other times the person was late, and tell yourself that he or she is doing this deliberately to slight you. Make sure that by the time the person arrives, you’re either seething or so despondent that the evening is ruined. If the person asks what’s wrong, don’t say a word: let him or her suffer.

Exercise: List the names of five relatives or friends. For each, write down something they did or said in the recent past that proves they’re as invested in adding to your misery as you are.

6. Whatever you do, do it only for personal gain. Sometimes you’ll be tempted to help someone, contribute to a charity, or participate in a community activity. Don’t do it, unless there’s something in it for you, like the opportunity to seem like a good person or to get to know somebody you can borrow money from some day. Never fall into the trap of doing something purely because you want to help people. Remember that your primary goal is to take care of Numero Uno, even though you hate yourself.

Exercise: Think of all the things you’ve done for others in the past that haven’t been reciprocated. Think about how everyone around you is trying to take from you. Now list three things you could do that would make you appear altruistic while bringing you personal, social, or professional gain.

7. Avoid gratitude. Research shows that people who express gratitude are happier than those who don’t, so never express gratitude. Counting your blessings is for idiots. What blessings? Life is suffering, and then you die. What’s there to be thankful for?

Well-meaning friends and relatives will try to sabotage your efforts to be thankless. For example, while you’re in the middle of complaining about the project you procrastinated on at work to your spouse during an unhealthy dinner, he or she might try to remind you of how grateful you should be to have a job or food at all. Such attempts to encourage gratitude and cheerfulness are common and easily deflected. Simply point out that the things you should be grateful for aren’t perfect—which frees you to find as much fault with them as you like.

Exercise: Make a list of all the things you could be grateful for. Next to each item, write down why you aren’t. Imagine the worst. When you think of the future, imagine the worst possible scenario. It’s important to be prepared for and preemptively miserable about any possible disaster or tragedy. Think of the possibilities: terrorist attacks, natural disasters, fatal disease, horrible accidents, massive crop failures, your child not getting picked for the varsity softball team.

8. Always be alert and in a state of anxiety. Optimism about the future leads only to disappointment. Therefore, you have to do your best to believe that your marriage will flounder, your children won’t love you, your business will fail, and nothing good will ever work out for you.

Exercise: Do some research on what natural or manmade disasters could occur in your area, such as earthquakes, floods, nuclear plant leaks, rabies outbreaks. Focus on these things for at least an hour a day.

9. Blame your parents. Blaming your parents for your defects, shortcomings, and failures is among the most important steps you can take. After all, your parents made you who you are today; you had nothing to do with it. If you happen to have any good qualities or successes, don’t give your parents credit. Those are flukes.

Extend the blame to other people from your past: the second-grade teacher who yelled at you in the cafeteria, the boy who bullied you when you were 9, the college professor who gave you a D on your paper, your first boyfriend, even the hick town you grew up in—the possibilities are limitless. Blame is essential in the art of being miserable.

Exercise: Call one of your parents and tell her or him that you just remembered something horrible they did when you were a child, and make sure he or she understands how terrible it made you feel and that you’re still suffering from it.

10. Don’t enjoy life’s pleasures. Taking pleasure in things like food, wine, music, and beauty is for flighty, shallow people. Tell yourself that. If you inadvertently find yourself enjoying some flavor, song, or work of art, remind yourself immediately that these are transitory pleasures, which can’t compensate for the miserable state of the world. The same applies to nature. If you accidentally find yourself enjoying a beautiful view, a walk on the beach, or a stroll through a forest, stop! Remind yourself that the world is full of poverty, illness, and devastation. The beauty of nature is a deception.

Exercise: Once a week, engage in an activity that’s supposed to be enjoyable, but do so while thinking about how pointless it is. In other words, concentrate on removing all sense of pleasure from the pleasurable activity.

11. Ruminate. Spend a great deal of time focused on yourself. Worry constantly about the causes of your behavior, analyze your defects, and chew on your problems. This will help you foster a pessimistic view of your life. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by any positive experience or influence. The point is to ensure that even minor upsets and difficulties appear huge and portentous.

You can ruminate on the problems of others or the world, but make them about you. Your child is sick? Ruminate on what a burden it is for you to take time off from work to care for her. Your spouse is hurt by your behavior? Focus on how terrible it makes you feel when he points out how you make him feel. By ruminating not only on your own problems but also those of others, you’ll come across as a deep, sensitive thinker who holds the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Exercise: Sit in a comfortable chair and seek out negative feelings, like anger, depression, anxiety, boredom, whatever. Concentrate on these feelings for 15 minutes. During the rest of the day, keep them in the back of your mind, no matter what you’re doing.

12. Glorify or vilify the past. Glorifying the past is telling yourself how good, happy, fortunate, and worthwhile life was when you were a child, a young person, or a newly married person—and regretting how it’s all been downhill ever since. When you were young, for example, you were glamorous and danced the samba with handsome men on the beach at twilight; and now you’re in a so-so marriage to an insurance adjuster in Topeka. You should’ve married tall, dark Antonio. You should’ve invested in Microsoft when you had the chance. In short, focus on what you could’ve and should’ve done, instead of what you did. This will surely make you miserable.

Vilifying the past is easy, too. You were born in the wrong place at the wrong time, you never got what you needed, you felt you were discriminated against, you never got to go to summer camp. How can you possibly be happy when you had such a lousy background? It’s important to think that bad memories, serious mistakes, and traumatic events were much more influential in forming you and your future than good memories, successes, and happy events. Focus on bad times. Obsess about them. Treasure them. This will ensure that, no matter what’s happening in the present, you won’t be happy.

Exercise: Make a list of your most important bad memories and keep it where you can review it frequently. Once a week, tell someone about your horrible childhood or how much better your life was 20 years ago.

13. Find a romantic partner to reform. Make sure that you fall in love with someone with a major defect (cat hoarder, gambler, alcoholic, womanizer, sociopath), and set out to reform him or her, regardless of whether he or she wants to be reformed. Believe firmly that you can reform this person, and ignore all evidence to the contrary.

Exercise: Go to online dating sites and see how many bad choices you can find in one afternoon. Make efforts to meet these people. It’s good if the dating site charges a lot of money, since this means you’ll be emotionally starved and poor.

14. Be critical. Make sure to have an endless list of dislikes and voice them often, whether or not your opinion is solicited. For example, don’t hesitate to say, “That’s what you chose to wear this morning?” or “Why is your voice so shrill?” If someone is eating eggs, tell them you don’t like eggs. Your negativity can be applied to almost anything.

It helps if the things you criticize are well liked by most people so that your dislike of them sets you apart. Disliking traffic and mosquitos isn’t creative enough: everyone knows what it’s like to find these things annoying, and they won’t pay much attention if you find them annoying, too. But disliking the new movie that all your friends are praising? You’ll find plenty of opportunities to counter your friends’ glowing reviews with your contrarian opinion.

Exercise: Make a list of 20 things you dislike and see how many times you can insert them into a conversation over the course of the day. For best results, dislike things you’ve never given yourself a chance to like.

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Qui Transtulit, Sustinet...

2013-11-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

The Internet is replete with examples of how words can destroy and demean. We live in a society characterized by rude and demeaning words, written and spoken. In truth, words can kill.

But, words can also give life.

Years ago, my high school Latin teacher inscribed three words in my high school yearbook which have sustained me my whole life: Qui transtulit, sustinet: “The One who has carried us across, sustains us.”

These words became part of the motto of the State of Connecticut in May of 1784. They are an adaptation of a verse in Psalm 79/80 in the Latin Vulgate. Colonel George Fenwick brought this inscription from England to the Colonies in 1639. The sentiment gave hope to colonists who had left England for America.

My Latin teacher was an agnostic. He said he didn’t believe in God. Yet, he seemed to intuit that God played a role in my young life. These three words are words of faith.

I am no longer in possession of my yearbook. I can remember what it looked and felt like. I can close my eyes and remember the three words in Latin inscribed in it, and the teacher who seemed to know that these words would matter to me, a believer.

Throughout my life, especially in difficult times, the words have reverberated in my soul. They convey the promise that the One who created me will sustain my life, even when times are hard and outcomes are uncertain.

Words can kill. Words can also heal and sustain us.

Qui transtulit, sustinet.

The One who has carried us across, sustains us.

Steven D. Olson

God Meddles in Our Miseries...

2013-11-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

“God meddles in our miseries, he approaches our wounds and heals them with his hands; it was to have hands he became man.

“God does not save us only by decree, with a law, he saves us with tenderness, he saves us with caresses, he saves us with his life given for us.”

Pope Francis

Parish Bulletin Bloopers - Volume II

2013-11-07T04:00:00.000-05:00

For those of us who can use some comic relief, here are more Parish Bulletin Bloopers.......

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person(s) you want remembered.

The Lutheran men's group will meet at 6 pm. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Father Joe's sermons.

During the absence of our Priest, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when Msgr. J.F. Stone supplied our pulpit.

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

This evening at 7 pm there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The Parish is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

Steven Olson

Is Prayer Not Just Sort of a Conversation with Yourself?

2013-11-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

Rummaging through YouCat, the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, I came across this question and answer.

The answer to question #506 (Is prayer not just sort of a conversation with yourself?) is worth pondering:

The distinctive feature about prayer is precisely the fact that one goes from Me to You, from self-centeredness to radical openness.

Someone who is really praying can experience the fact that God speaks--and that often He does not speak as we expect or would like.

Those who are experienced in prayer report that a person very often comes out of a prayer session different from the way she went in. Sometimes expectations are met: you are sad and find consolation; you lack confidence and receive new strength.

It can also happen, though, that you would like to forget pressures but are made even more uneasy; that you would like to be left in peace and instead receive an assignment.

A real encounter with God--the kind that occurs again and again in prayer--can shatter our preconceptions about both God and prayer.

Steven Olson

R.I.P. Colleen Ritzer

2013-10-23T14:45:00.002-04:00

Colleen Ritzer, 24, Danvers, Massachusetts, the second teacher this week murdered by a student:

Hannah Rose Duffy - Her Last Request

2013-10-01T14:16:00.002-04:00

I had the honor to serve as cantor this morning at the funeral of Hannah Rose Duffy. Hannah died at the tender age of 14 following a struggle against brain cancer.

The church was packed with hundreds people, many of them her young peers.

Of the many stories and tributes told about this lovely girl whom I never met in life, I was very moved by her final request:

In the last days of her life, she was moved to a hospice. Hannah, who had been baptized but never confirmed, requested to be confirmed and to receive her First Holy Communion.

Days before she died--dressed in the white dress she wore to her eighth grade graduation--Hanna Rose was Confirmed and received Holy Communion for the first and last time.

She completed her initiation into the Catholic Church, as her earthly life neared its end.

Having received the Bread of Life, she was now ready to enter into the promise of Eternal Life.

Of the many things this young girl might have requested, I was struck by the powerful witness her last request gave to believers and non-believers alike.

Rest in Peace, Hannah Rose…..

Steven Olson

John XXIII to Be Canonized April 27

2013-09-30T16:30:00.000-04:00

Blessed John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council in 1962, wrote what is known as his Daily Decalogue. This piece of wisdom for daily living was included in a homily preached in St. Peter's during a memorial Mass celebrating the life of this beloved man. His Decalogue sounds very contemporary:

1) Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.

2) Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behavior; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.

3) Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.

4) Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.

5) Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.

6) Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.

7) Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.

8) Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.

9) Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world.

10) Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

To conclude: here is an all-embracing resolution: "I want to be kind, today and always, to everyone". In this way, we can put Pope John's hope for every Christian into practice: "Every believer in this world must be a spark of light, a core of love, life-giving leaven in the Mass: and the more he is so, the more he will live, in his innermost depths, in communion with God".

~ from a homily delivered by
Cardinal Tarcisio Berton
October 11, 2006
St. Peter's Basilica

Next April 27, Blessed John XXIII will be canonized with Pope John Paul II by Pope Francis.

Working the Phones

2013-09-11T18:29:00.000-04:00

When I was an idealistic young man, I was drawn to the film, The Shoes of the Fisherman. Years before I converted to Catholicism, I was riveted to this story, based on a novel, about a fictional priest from an Eastern Bloc country who, after years of imprisonment at hard labor, finds himself elected by acclamation as the next pontiff.

His surprise election stuns everyone, including himself.

He takes the name Pope Kiril. Shortly after his election, this new pope, through his inaugural movements, signals to all that he will become the People’s Pope.

In one of my favorite scenes in the film, the pope escapes the Vatican in the guise of an ordinary citizen and freely and happily walks the streets of Rome, seeing the sights, smelling the smells, interacting with the common folk. Slipping into the winding, ancient streets of the eternal city incognito, he enjoys the sights and sounds of the city. If memory serves me correctly—it’s been years since I have seen the film—he gets involved with a family and even helps to deliver a baby.

And now, with Papa Francisco, life begins to imitate art, as this dark horse contender to the papacy begins to be hailed by many as the People’s Pope.

He is a pontiff who kisses babies. He calls his hometown newspaper personally after his election to cancel his subscription. He calls his cobbler to alert him that someone else might be picking up his shoes. He personally shows up to pay his own hotel bill. He chooses a modest residence over the elaborate Vatican Palace as his dwelling.

(As I write this, the web is reporting that Pope Francis has accepted the gift of a used car from an Italian priest—a clunker with 190,000 miles on the odometer—so that he has a vehicle to drive around Vatican City.)

And, in a stunner, this humble man reaches out on the telephone and compassionately speaks to a young woman, Anna Romano, who wrote a desperate letter to the pope stating that she was pregnant and had discovered that her boyfriend, who tried to pressure her into an abortion, was married and had another family. Pope Francis encouraged her, called her courageous for carrying the baby to term, and even offered to baptize the child if she could not find a priest to do it.

He is also reported to have phoned a man who was angry at God after a member of his family was murdered, and a college graduate who was fearful that he might not be able to find a job.

Cynics tell me that this is too good to be true. They are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I, for one, refuse to join with the cynics. I will, instead, rejoice in the Holy Spirit’s choice of this new Vicar of Christ—a humble man who is certainly earning that title.

And, Holy Father, if you are not too busy on an upcoming Friday night—Call Me, Maybe?

Steven D. Olson

No Se Aceptan Devoluciones: A Film with a Heart and a Funny Bone

2013-09-07T17:25:00.001-04:00

Instructions Not Included, in Spanish with subtitles, is a wonderful film with a heart and a funny bone. This film has been ignored by many critics but deserves to be seen and appreciated for the little gem it is. My Latino co-workers, who know I love movies, urged me to see this film. I’m glad I did.

The heart of Instructions Not Included is a story we’ve seen before: Man-boy is saddled with child. Child teaches man-boy how to be a real man. It starts out a bit silly but then develops into a cross-cultural fairytale, with equal parts slapstick,novella and well-observed slice of life.

We follow Valentin (Derbez, who handles comedy and drama like a modern-day Charlie Chaplin) as he moves from Acapulco to Los Angeles to raise his child, the unintended result of a fling with Californian pixie-dream-girl Julie, who ditches Valentin and their daughter and then disappears into the mist. Six years later, Julie marches back into the picture as an ice-queen litigator who demands custody of their child, the now seven-year-old Maggie (Loreto Peralta, a beautiful, winsome girl in a flawless debut) and the film becomes a 21st century Kramer Vs. Kramer.

The film is not without its issues. Comic sequences occasionally play too long and too broad, and the pacing drags in the middle. But all of this can be forgiven. This film has heart for days, and comes equipped with a funny bone that’s funnier than that of any comedy I’ve seen in years. The ending left me with a lump in the throat and the largely hispanic audience in tears.

Whereas Eugenio Derbez is a household name in the Latino community, he’s virtually unknown to English-language audiences. But even though critics ignored this film, audiences didn’t. If you see this film you will laugh and you will cry and see a wonderful story about love in the process.

The world needs fewer "summer blockbusters" and more little films like this....

Steven Olson

A Prayer to Help Us Let Go of Summer...

2013-08-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

As the sun sets a little sooner every evening,
Labor Day's horizon eclipsing these august days,
I'm wondering, Lord:
why must good times come to an end?

Why, Lord, must the good days come to an end?
Why are memories not enough?
Why is the fall-filtered beauty of light and leaves
not enough today
to help me let go summer’s warmth
and pace and peace?

I should be grateful for autumn:
your gentle preparation
of everyone and everything
for the dying winter will surely bring…

Still, letting go of summer is not easy...

You know the seasons better than I, Lord,
and no season changes
'round me or in me
but that you first know
how those changes
will change me...

Be with me, Lord,
in all the seasons of my life
and be with me in between the seasons,
when moving from one to the next
is itself a season to bear…

Help me let go of what is slipping away...
Take my offered heart
and open me to what is new and changing
in the weeks and months ahead…

Make me gentle with how the seasons change
in the hearts of those around me,
in those whose paths cross mine today...

I offer you my seasoned heart, Lord:
you are the source of all the strength I need
to live this day and every day this week
edging towards Labor Day
and a season's new beginning...
Be my guide and walk with me, Lord,
through this summer-fall season’s change…

Amen.

Fr. Austin Fleming

True Love Never Ends: Sweet Lorraine

2013-08-30T08:33:00.003-04:00

Click here for Sweet Lorraine

St. Anselm - Teach My Heart

2013-08-21T10:30:00.000-04:00

The patron saint of the parish I attend is St. Anselm. I have long loved, and prayed, his wonderful prayer:

O Lord my God,
Teach my heart this day where and how to see you,
Where and how to find you.

You have made me and remade me,
And you have bestowed on me
All the good things I possess,
And still I do not know you.

I have not yet done that
For which I was made.

Teach me to seek you,
For I cannot seek you
Unless you teach me,
Or find you
Unless you show yourself to me.

Let me seek you in my desire,
Let me desire you in my seeking.
Let me find you by loving you,
Let me love you when I find you.

Steven Olson

Jobs

2013-08-20T15:57:00.005-04:00

Often, in this blog, I review current cinema. Recently, I saw the film, Jobs. The movie contains some wonderful acting, uneven scripting and poor editing, leaving the viewer at times confused by the film's abrupt transitions and even more abrupt ending.

Having seen the film--much of which is fascinating--I found myself wanting to listen to Steve Jobs himself.

Nearly 18 million people have watched and listened to the commencement address he gave at Stanford in 2005, 6 years before his death.

It is simple, straightforward, autobiographical, filled with wisdom.

In this week when many young people head back to college, I include the address here:

Click here to watch and listen:

Steven Olson

Dry Bones...

2013-08-14T10:51:00.001-04:00

Thus says the Lord to these bones:
"I will cause breath to enter you,
and you shall live."

Ezekiel 37:5 (NRSV)

there I am,
in Ezekiel's valley,
just another stack
of old, dry bones.

some Mondays
feel this way,
and Tuesdays, too,
to say nothing of
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

lost dreams
and forgotten pleasures,
sold like a soul
to a gluttonous world
feeding on my frenzy
and anxious activity.

but just when
this old heap of bones
seems most dry
and deserted,
a strong Breath of Life
stirs among my dead.

Someone named God
comes to my fragments
and asks, with twinkling eye:
"May I have this dance?"

the Voice stretches into me,
a stirring leaps in my heart,
lifting up the bones of death.

then I offer my waiting self
to the One who's never stopped
believing in me,
and the dance begins.

Joyce Rupp

A Summer's Twilight...

2013-08-09T15:16:00.001-04:00

When I am not blogging, I like to indulge my passion for photography.
The scene above is at nearby Shark River in Neptune, NJ

Click photo to see it larger.

When God is Silent...

2013-08-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

In 1979, Mother Teresa traveled to Oslo, Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. In her acceptance lecture, Mother Teresa delivered the kind of message the world had come to expect from her. "It is not enough for us to say, 'I love God, but I do not love my neighbor,'" she said, since in dying on the Cross, God had "made himself the hungry one — the naked one — the homeless one." Jesus' hunger, she said, is what "you and I must find" and alleviate. She condemned abortion and bemoaned youthful drug addiction in the West. Finally, she suggested that the upcoming Christmas holiday should remind the world "that radiating joy is real" because Christ is everywhere — "Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smile we give and in the smile that we receive."

Yet, less than three months earlier, in a letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, she wrote wearily of a different Christ, an absent one: "Jesus has a very special love for you," she assured Van der Peet. "But as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have a free hand."

Since her death, much has come to light about the “dark night of the soul” experienced by this beloved saint.

Every believer, from time to time, enters into a dry place, a place of where God seems silent. Losses, tragedies, unemployment may trigger a move into the abyss. But it can happen gradually, too, without any particular trigger. Here are a few strategies for navigating through the spiritual wasteland:

Remember, you are not alone!

Mother Teresa, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila and so many others have written extensively about their periods of dryness. While a sojourn in the spiritual desert is not always pleasant, it is part and parcel of the life of faith. There’s nothing necessarily abnormal about a time of dryness. As a matter of fact, the experience may be a prelude to greater faith.

Continue to pray

When God seems silent, and prayer ceases to feel like a dialog, it is important to keep on praying. Spend time in silent meditation, listening for the God who often speaks to us in a whisper. Speak to God, yes. But listen all the more!

If you’re Catholic, increase your participation in the Sacraments

Try increasing your attendance at Mass and at the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Spend quiet time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

Speak to a Spiritual Director or another trusted spiritual guide

Find a seasoned person of faith who has already experienced periods of dryness. Don’t let yourself walk through the desert alone.

Make sure that your ‘dryness’ is not due to a medical (or emotional) condition

Make sure you are not suffering from depression or a medical condition which is negatively affecting your sense of balance and mood.

Eat healthy and get plenty of exercise

Unplug the technology, get outside, take a brisk walk and watch your diet.

Prepare for what God has in store for you

Desert experiences are frequently a prelude to a deepening of the spiritual life. Following His baptism, our Lord spent 40 days in the desert as a prelude to his public ministry.

Prayerfully consider what God has in store for you , remembering His promise to you in the 29^th chapter of Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Steven Olson

One of My Favorites...Ever!

2013-07-30T11:36:00.004-04:00

I'm in the process of reading a gem of a novel that I just happened to stumble upon. It was published in Sweden during World War II and vanished off the radar for a long period of time.

Every serious reader has had the experience: perhaps by accident --on a library shelf, or in a dusty box at a garage sale-- you stumble across an out-of-print book that seizes your imagination through its author's sheer mastery of the storytelling craft.

And you wonder: why, O why, doesn't the publisher re-issue this in lieu of one or another of the emminently forgettable titles in current release?

Such a book is The Long Ships by Frans Bengtssen, which crossed the Atlantic from Scandinavia to America in the early 1950s; like Leif Ericson, who made the same trip long before Columbus, this book lingered only briefly here before vanishing without a trace.

And that is a tragedy for anyone who craves an epic, lusty tale of Vikings and their travels-- told with a sophisticated and understated humor and with a sense of historical perspective that blends so subtly into the narrative that one is staggered to later find it is painstakingly accurate. Thank you, History Channel-- but I heard it all first, and far more compellingly, from following Orm Tostesson's exciting voyages, enthusiastic plunderings and thrilling adventures in The Long Ships.

I'm half-way through this saga, now available in paperback. The Long Ships deserves a new generation of readers, invited by those of us who have already had the pleasure of reading it.

Steven Olson

Thoughts At A Campfire...

2013-07-29T14:39:00.000-04:00

Sitting before a campfire on a summer’s night can be a contemplative experience.

The flames dance on the logs and light up the night. The bright, dynamic life of the fire draws me into a quiet reverie. I find it easy to enter the vibrancy of the flames with their sudden spurts of energy and sparks of life. Awe and surprise fill my heart when another piece of wood is placed on the glowing embers and new flames suddenly fill the darkness with radiant light.

The prophet Jeremiah once used the image of the fire with its intense light and penetrating heat to describe the presence of God within him when we wrote, “there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart” (Jeremiah 20:9).

This dance of God is a burning, searing, powerful, passionate presence, a fire that kindles, cleanses and transforms.

Jeremiah did not welcome this flame of God within him. It seemed too much for him. He fought its being there and even accused God of seducing him. In spite of his loud protestations, Jeremiah did act on the dynamic burning in his heart. He surrendered to the flame of God and allowed the love within him to fill him with a passion for truth and justice. His voice blazed with God’s word.

At times, we may feel like Jeremiah in his initial resistance to the blaze of God’s love within him. We may want the glowing, consoling feelings of God’s nearness, but not the challenge and force of it. The fire can be demanding. We may fear getting to involved with God, too close to the flame. We may be unwilling to move out of our comfort zone to risk the unknowns and the insecurity of change. After all, fire is meant to transform us, just as wood is turned to flame, as a candle’s wax is consumed, as the oil in a lantern is burned.

We are the fuel for God’s work on earth….

Steven Olson

Reflecting on "Fruitvale Station"...

2013-07-26T15:33:00.000-04:00

Adding to the intensity and pathos of Fruitvale Station is the timing of its opening (I have long believed that there is no such thing as coincidence). It opens as the debate and national divide following the Trayvon Martin verdict is still front page news, when pundits are still opining on President Obama's personal remarks in the wake of that verdict. It opens, too, as daily we hear of the gun violence and murder rate in Chicago and as the cable news networks are now speaking of another case in Florida in which a white male allegedly shot and killed another unarmed African-American teenager who was seated in his minivan--a young person whose only crime was playing loud music.

“Fruitvale Station” leaves no doubt where the story is headed. It opens with grainy cell phone video of police officers forcing an unarmed black man to the ground on a subway station platform in Oakland, Calif., as incredulous and alarmed onlookers shout, "Let him go," "Protect and serve" and "Hey, come on, man!

The handcuffed man is forced face down as a white officer draws a weapon and fires the shot that will be heard 'round the Bay Area and then the nation. It kills 22-year-old Oscar Grant on New Year's Day 2009 and triggers protests that would be echoed, on a larger scale, after the death of Trayvon Martin.

"Fruitvale Station" goes beyond the headlines and heartache and shows Grant as a son, boyfriend, doting father, drug dealer who served prison time, and a man trying to start the new year with a fresh slate.

As the film begins, we know we are watching a dramatization of his final hours, which makes even the happiest moments bittersweet or shadowed by dread.

Oscar's girlfriend suspects him of seeing an old flame but he pledges his love and loyalty to her and their 4-year-old daughter, Tatiana . He calls his mother (Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, "The Help") to wish her a happy birthday, heads to a supermarket and goes out of his way there to be kind and charming to a stranger.

The balance of the day is consumed with normal activities made abnormal by the fact that he will not have the luxury of doing them again, from picking up his child from preschool to weighing a trip to San Francisco to watch fireworks.

His mother's suggestion to stay safe by taking BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, sounds so reasonable but proves so fateful when a scuffle dumps Grant onto that platform where his life will be cut short.

Coogler, the director, was living in the Bay Area when Grant was shot, and he, like countless others, watched the video of the shooting. The names of both transit officers were changed for the film, but no attempt is made to explore or scrutinize them.

"Fruitvale Station" is not a documentary but a fictional portrait of a 22-year-old whose death left his daughter without a dad, his girlfriend without a partner, his mother without a son, and his grandmother without one of her grandchildren.

Like a hole punched in the ice, the cracks spread, and they reached 2013 where moviegoers realized "Fruitvale Station" opened or was about to open as news of George Zimmerman's acquittal arrived. Separated by circumstances, 3 years and 2,900 miles, the cases are part of the national conversation on race that continues to move in fits and starts. It’s an intimate and intense film, shot with a hand-held camera and a powerful sense of realism. As a Christian, I found the scene in which Oscar's mother leads her family in prayer following the shooting powerful and deeply moving.

"Fruitvale Station" runs less than 90 minutes, long enough to put a face and family on a man whose daughter asks a simple question in the opening hours of 2009 -- "Where's Daddy?" -- for which there is no easy answer.

Steven D. Olson