We Live In Difficult Times

Wow, well its certainly been a while since my last update hasn’t it? I promise to try to be more faithful. I hope I didn’t loose all my followers. It’s been a very busy . The reality of it is, its been life changing. Since my last post in March of 2010 a lot has happened. I have been Ordained an Old Catholic Priest. My roommate has moved out. (Nothing dramatic, it was just time for the next step), and I find myself on the cusp of getting a car, as being a Priest who relies on the RIPTA system doesn’t work so well. My days are spent trying to find a balance in the many aspects of my life, and adjusting to life as a Priest.

My inspiration to share my thoughts comes once again from Bishop Tobin’s weekly writing. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes we don’t, this most current post of his however I didn’t give much thought to beyond the beginning lines which I will quote;

“I saw a “Peanuts” cartoon recently that seemed especially timely. The kids are playing baseball and little Linus, in full catcher’s gear walks out to the pitcher’s mound and announces to Charlie Brown, “The bases are loaded again, and there’s still nobody out.” “So what do you think?” asks Charlie Brown.

After a pause for reflection, Linus declares simply, “We live in difficult times,” as he turns around and heads back to home plate.”

The Bishop goes on to speak about the world around us, and how it is seemingly falling apart, war, unemployment, etc etc. What struck a chord with me is how significant this is in our own lives. We don’t need to turn to the news to find stress or consternation. We don’t need to look to Afghanistan to find strife. We don’t need to look to the National Banking situation to find financial disorder. . . All we have to do is go on Facebook, or check our Emails, or take a good look at our own lives.

Between my own life, and my experiences thus far as a Priest, I have noticed that life is full of all these things without having to look very far at all. Relationships that we fight to keep alive, bills we struggle to pay, Rent that feels like its due every day instead of every month, checkbooks that don’t line up at all with the bills, sickness, death, and the list goes on.

It’s so easy to only see the tough stuff. Sometimes though we have to look at the bright side, it sounds cheesy but it’s so true. For the Christian we can look to the love of Christ, for the non believer, and even often for the Christian, we must look at the good things in our earthly lives. Last night I had the pleasure of after Mass spending time with friends who shared in common a club in Providence that is closing temporarily to re-locate. What began with exchanging quips, ended with sharing memories of the good times, the lessons learned from one another, and the hope of sharing in what is to come in one another’s lives.

Lately it seems like there is so much change going on in everyone’s life. I get a certain heaviness lately like everyone feels like Linus, “we live in difficult times”. We live in a time when change happens everyday. Some change is good, and change for which we have been working for a long time, and some change was not requested, but was cast upon us anyway. Then there’s that change that we asked for, and worked for, and regretted later.

The reality of it all is, those silver lining moments in life, those moments when we go to bed after an evening with friends, and we feel refreshed, and we feel renewed, those are the moments we have to LIVE from, because those are the moments that God sends to remind us of His goodness. Those are the moments when God reveals Himself to us, because if God is Love, then anytime we feel love, we feel God.

So let’s all think about this concept a bit. Which moments are more powerful? The moments of love, or the moments of stress. I think its safe to say that we live our lives for the most part worrying, stressing, trying to balance the books, dwelling on relationships that aren’t as we wish they were, the computer that won’t work, the cable that’s on the fritz, etc etc. Unfortunately, the “love moments” we often miss. When they DO make an impact it’s so strong that we find ourselves choking back a tear, or feeling profoundly moved. The reason is; we aren’t used to them. The negativity becomes the norm, and we find ourselves often like Linus. Perhaps instead when we hear that voice of Charlie Brown in our head, when we find ourselves wondering “what am I going to do”, put everything down, and look at the blessings in life.

As Debbie said on Queer as Folk, “Mourn the losses, because there are many, but celebrate the victories, because there are so few.” The reality of it is, change, good or bad, isn’t going to stop. We will never make the money we want to, or have the perfect relationship, or have the perfect housing situation, or in general be exactly where we want to be. However, what we will always have, is friends to share it with, memories to lean on, and the excitement and hope of the memories we’ve yet to build.