Daily Postings

Some times in our life we fall into situations where there seems to be no possible escape from disaster.  We panic, even if we are ordinarily calm and resourceful in finding solutions.  Then, out of nowhere, comes a force that snatches us from the brink.  We can’t explain it.  There is no way we can understand what happened, but the oncoming disaster just disappeared.

I will never forget an incident that happened many years ago.  I used to take my mother on vacation with me every summer, and we took different routes each year as we drove across the country.  When we couldn’t think of anything or anyone else to talk about, she would take out her rosary and start praying.  I know it was because she worried about my driving.  On our way back home we were driving north through southern Illinois, on a two lane highway towards Chicago.  We were going up a very steep, winding road, with a guard rail on the right to prevent people from going off a cliff into the river. 

As we were driving along, all of a sudden a huge trailer truck came around the bend in our lane at unusual speed. I immediately knew there was no escape.  All I could say was, “This is the end, Mother, there’s no escape. I love you, Mother.”  She said the same to me, “I love you, too, Joseph.”  I closed my eyes as I did not want to see it happen.

There was nothing. I opened my eyes, and looked in the rear view mirror, and I could see the back of the truck. There was not possible explanation of what happened, as there was no way for the truck to get back past us.  My Mother and I looked at each other in amazement.  My Mother merely said. “Now, that had to be a miracle.  There was no room for that truck to get past us. Now, you see why I pray my rosary, Joseph?” subtly slipping in her little promotion for the Blessed Mother.  “Her Son always protects us, more often than we imagine.” 

So, when things seem the worst, don’t be afraid.  There is someone who cares for you and watches over you.  Just trust. It is not irrational. It is just good spiritual common sense, because He cares.”  

I am really worried about the state of politics in our country.  I am worried for the country.  I am afraid that politics had replaced religion.  What is love of God? Love of God means thinking of God often, loving God with all our hearts, and placing love of Him before all others.  You might say, being absorbed in the things of God.  Now that absorption and emotional commitment I see in political party fanatics, and they now number in the millions.  From what I see they are sick people, dead set on destroying the opposing party. They read party magazines as if they were the bible. The worship they should give to God, they give to God the Party.  Anyone not belonging to God the Party, is an enemy.  Only people belonging to God the Party do good, and never do wrong, even their mistakes smell nice.  The Opposing party can never do good. They are evil, to be destroyed.  It is so sick.  What is there about hatred that is so appealing?  And it seems to be getting worse every day.  And they call themselves patriots.  And in reality, they don’t care for the country, it’s only the party.  And if they don’t stop and start worshipping God instead of God the Party before they die, they’ll not only jeopardize their eternal salvation, they’ll tear the country apart so badly, that eventually they will destroy what they profess to love.

Our beautiful country is like heaven to so many people who live in places that are like hell to them.  It is important for our country and for all countries to protect their borders from people who threaten our defense, and the public good. So, most countries have quotas.  But, the world wide crisis of poverty and destitution and starvation is driving people to pour across borders into other countries in Asia, in Europe, in the Middle East, and into our own country.  Many of these countries at first welcomed them, especially if they had skills, because the countries’ birth rate had dropped during the past thirty years, so low they had a severe shortage of labor.  The same thing happened in our own country.  Over the past thirty-five years our birthrate dropped so low we were able to absorb over thirty million Latinos in our labor market.  Now that people are losing jobs across the country, immigration has almost stopped because there are few jobs available.  Immigrants have always been a boon to our country.  We have always thrived on the massive influx of new blood into our country, and we welcomed them. They have been coming here because our government let them know that we needed them and that we had no intention of enforcing our immigration laws.  President Reagan realized that there would be an outcry when he granted amnesty to those already here, and made the remark, “Watch, now you will see all the ‘know-nothings’ raising cries of protest.”

From a spiritual point of view, national borders are manmade, and basically only illusions.  The world belongs to God, and all his children.  When people are desperate, people of all countries have obligations before God to help them to survive, and not call them criminals when desperation drives them across borders for work.  One day we will go before God, and seek entrance into his kingdom.  He promised to treat us the way we treat others, “Come blessed of my father into the kingdom. When I was hungry you gave me food, etc.; when I asked for a welcome into your country when my family was starving, you …..   called me a stranger, a criminal, and had me arrested and turned me away.”   Now you come to me after breaking my laws all during your life, you who to me have been criminal, and you ask me to welcome you into my kingdom.  What should I say to you?”

I don’t think many realize it, but we are at dangerous crossroads in our history.  When ancient Rome went into decline, the motto of the politicians then was “Bread and Games,” give the people what they want.  Rome by that time had lost its moral fiber, and its passion for greatness.  We run the same risk. The Government Accounting Office released its report recently stating that 62% of our major corporations have paid no taxes in the past five years, and recently it was reported 40 million working Americans paid no taxes.  Both of our major parties have the same philosophy, “Give the people what they want”  One party promises continuous reduction of taxes, so “you can spend your own money.”  The other party promises to help everybody pay their health care bills, and promises not to increase taxes, except for the very wealthy, to cover the cost of health care.  What’s the difference?

When a people reach the point in their country’s history when patriotism is limited to parades and lapel pins, and bumper stickers, and pious, usually hateful, prattle on email forewords, and when no one wants to pay taxes, and demand the end of welfare, except for the corporations and million acre farm conglomerates, that country is already along the way to decay.  At that point, the vast majority of those willing to die for the country will come from the ranks of the poor, as their only means of survival. In the last days of Rome, citizens enjoying the good life, no longer had a taste for military service, and the armies were composed of mercenaries and foreigners who eventually turned on Rome and conquered it.

We desperately need real patriots today, not big mouths who rarely know what they are talking about, because they just pass on garbage they pick up on the cyberstreets, usually filled with hate.  We need people who are really concerned about the country and are not afraid to ask the people to be willing to sacrifice to make our country strong again, and dedicated to the high ideals on which our country was founded.  And that spirit has to be instilled in children when they are young, so they will be proud of their countries ideals and enjoy the thrill of sacrificing for their country.

There is a certain pleasure to sadness, that’s why so many people are addicted to soap operas and romance novels.  Most people can walk away from a sad mood and immediately get interested in something else, but some have a hard time breaking the mood.  Sadness can then become a danger because it often leads into depression, and once depression takes hold it is not very easy to shake.  After a while, the sadness that goes with depression can become addictive as there is a morbid pleasure attached to sadness, and it is almost like wrapping oneself in the sadness, hugging oneself for affection.  Depression is one of the most common problems with people, and why so many people have to resort to prescription drugs, and why so many young people become involved with drugs, to escape depression.  For all these reasons it is so necessary to try not to let sadness get a foothold right in the very beginning

In a national crisis, there is a fine line between ‘loyal’ opposition’ and borderline treason.  It is a time for true patriotism to inspire us all, and for party pettiness to be buried on both sides.

Ever since my twelve year bout with depression which started when I was fifteen, I have been afraid of depression ever since.  Last week I noticed I was beginning to become depressed again, after all these years and it frightened me.  I immediately remembered the remedies that used to help me, and decided to go and work in the garden, pulling weeds, digging in the dirt with a trowel, softening the dirt around the roots, and then picking berries. I then got out a hose and hosed down the front porch, which was covered with sunflower shells from the bird feeders.  Tired, I sat down on the porch and fell sound asleep, and woke up an hour later, with no depression.  Those two hours of a enjoyable work replaced the oncoming sadness, and broke the mood.  Sometimes it takes a combination of pleasant activities, but any enjoyable, absorbing distraction helps, because you can’t feel two emotions at the same time.  A little prayer helps, too.

The poor never have so little that they don’t have enough to share.  For so many others who have much, they never have enough to share.

One of my nieces told me she was shocked one day to see her little son out on the lawn all by himself.  Her husband couldn’t see what the problem was.  My niece, upset, said, “What if some creep kidnapped him?”

“What chance would there be for that to happen out here?”

Later that night on the news was the story about a child playing on the front lawn a few blocks up the street had been kidnapped at the same time my niece’s son was playing on the front lawn.

And again, how many children drown in backyard swimming pools, when parents weren’t watching?  And how many children are kidnapped from automobiles, when a parent went into a store to shop?

The lesson:  NEVER LET A CHILD OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!

I get the weirdest remarks from people sometimes,   A man said to me the other day, “You Catholics are morbid with your idea of death, and life after death.”

I asked him, “What’s morbid about it?” 

He said, “Because you make it a fixed part of your life and your philosophy.”

“That’s not morbid, it’s a reality,” I told him.  “It’s like a life insurance policy, which pays dividends when you’re alive and pays in full when you die.”

“How do you figure that?”

“It’s simple.  The thought of meeting God helps to keep us honest and caring and living an honorable life.  When we die, we cash in on the insurance policy that’s all paid up. So, when we meet God, we get a warm welcome home, with all our family and love ones. For people who choose not to believe that, what do they have?  Nothing. If there’s no God, then you’re just an animal, maybe a classier species, but still nothing more, and when you die there’s just an empty hole.  To me that’s morbid.  God bless those who may not believe, but live good lives and care for others.  They will be blessed by God, because He understands their sincerity, but cynics I feel are in for a shock if there is a God on the other side of life’s exit door.   That’s a bad time to be without an insurance policy.  What do they bring to Him to warrant admittance to a life of total happiness with God and all your loved ones?  It’s a bad time to arrive there empty-handed.”