February 26

Two years ago today my Mom left us for heaven.

It seems fitting to post about her here. Mom was Catholic to the core. In an age when we don't teach our kids enough about our faith, Mom gave me enough grounding in Catholicism that I wasn't immediately swayed by the mistruths that circulate everywhere.

Over the years I've had a drive to continue learning about the Church. The result is a much deeper love and appreciation for Catholicism. That's one of Mom's many legacies.

She spent her last 10 years in increasing pain. We never realized quite the depth of it until after she passed. She left writings behind. Now we have a much clearer picture.

With all her pain, she never wavered in her belief in God. When He seemed silent, she still never wavered. She's an example to all of us.

She was an incredibly stong woman.

I should rejoice for her, but I'm only human and the loss is still too great.

Yet she continues to teach me. In my faith journey, I realize that I can't be complacent in a faith that can't get beyond myself and my loss. I cannot yet be joyous for her.

My grief is more about my selfishness and less about love. I miss seeing her, talking to her, sharing everything with her. That's all about me.

I'm realizing that shedding selfishness is going to be a lifelong journey, but a worthwhile one.

One day I want to be able to love my Mom and all the others in my life with a love that truly celebrates their joy, especially when they have the joy of heaven.

In the meantime, to the surprise of nobody who knows me, when I turned on my mp3 player this morning, a Switchfoot song was playing. The song was Let Your Love Be Strong from the Oh! Gravity CD. It seems appropriate today.

In this world of news, I've found nothing new
I've found nothing pure
Maybe I'm just idealistic to assume that truth
Could be fact and form
That love could be a verb
Maybe I'm just a little misinformed

As the dead moon rises, and the freeways sigh
Let the trains watch over the tides and the mist
Spinning circles in our skies tonight
Let the trucks roll in from Los Angeles
Maybe our stars are unanimously tired

Let your love be strong, and I don't care what goes down
Let your love be strong enough to weather through the thunder cloud
Fury and thunder clap like stealing the fire from your eyes
All of my world hanging on your love

Let the wars begin, let my strength wear thin
Let my fingers crack, let my world fall apart
Train the monkeys on my back to fight
Let it start tonight
When my world explodes, when my stars touch the ground
Falling down like broken satellites

All of my world resting on your love


Happy Birthday, Mom.

The Eucharist: A Symbol or the Real Presence?

It's difficult to comprehend that a miracle occurs at every Mass, but in essence, that's what the Catholic Church teaches. According to the Church, the bread and wine become the real presence of Jesus, not just a symbol.

Though there are plenty of Biblical references to support this, other religions disagree. Many Catholics also believe that the bread and wine are just symbolic. I'm not sure why people who don't believe this continue to consider themselves Catholic because the belief in the Real Presence is central to Church teachings.

So where do you stand on the issue?

Before you answer, take a look at the article I've linked in the next paragraph. My first knowledge of this came from a book by James J. Drummey called Catholic Replies. In it, he talked about a priest in Italy in the early 8th century who doubted the Real Presence.

His doubts were laid to rest. One day during the words of consecration, the bread and wine were changed to look like what they actually were: flesh and blood.

The reason this story interested me is because of the follow-up in 1970. If you want to read more, just follow this link: Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano.

You may have already figured that this article will retell the story, and you would be right. You will also find proof of the claims.

But it's even better than that. This wasn't just any piece of flesh.

Just read the article. Note the specifics of what was found.

I hope it moves you as much as it moved me.

I'm discovering there are many other similar stories. I'll be looking into those in the next days.

Even though I've believed in the Church teachings regarding the Eucharist, after reading this article I'll never approach communion quite the same way again.

Prayers For A Priest

Sometimes I wonder if priests know how much they can affect our lives.

Many years ago a local priest died. He had a routine heart bypass surgery, he was relatively young and healthy, yet he died. The parish was devastated.

I'm thinking about that because of a blog I came across. The blog is at SaintRobertBellarmine.blogspot.com. Prayers are being asked for a priest who is dying.

There was a request made to email people and ask for prayers. I thought it would be appropriate to place this here to ask for prayers, too.

I only hope that when my day arrives, I can be as focussed on the right things as this priest is.

My prayers go out to not only this priest, but to those who love him. If this were happening to a couple of priests I know, priests who have had a significant impact in my life, it would be devastating to me.

Here's the message from the priest:

From Fr. Ed --

Here's an update on my health status.

A week ago Friday I met with my oncologist, Judy and some family members and prayerfully discerned to stop treatment. It wasn't very hard to make based on the options that I have. Anything aggressive is a long shot and some of it involves surgery with a high risk of infection with my weak body. Praying about the decision came through loud and clear to stop treatment.

I am at peace with that.

We even talked about hospice care at the appropriate time. Some tears were shed and it was nice to have family members there to share it together. Last week I visited my homeopathic doctor and he informed me that a body flooded with biliruben and a weakening liver can die in a matter of weeks but that it is a peaceful, pretty well painless way to die. That was a shock to hear that the illness could break the body totally down so rapidly.

All I can say is that for the past three and a half weeks my energy, appetite, general overall feeling has been constant--no regression and no progress. I would guess that without a miracle we’re talking about months rather than weeks. I began hospice care this week and that comes with some good benefits of paying for all of my prescriptions and reimburses me for ointments that help with the itching. I also get a massage each week.

I'm saying that on the scale of balance of going home soon or remaining here to continue ministry for a while, all of the facts tip the scale on the side of going home sooner rather than later. On the other side is the power of prayer which cannot be measured. I continue to ask Luminosa Bavosi to intercede for me and I feel her presence a lot.

As I say, I am at peace. Each day I have my bags packed for going home (heaven) and my brief case packed for doing the ministry of the day. I can’t think of anything more to put in the bag to go home. My brief case has about two appointments a day and a big reminder that . . .


LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT AND
EMBRACING JESUS FORSAKEN
IS THE GREATEST MINISTRY THAT I CAN DO.


Thanks for your unity and prayers, and love. I lean on them a lot.


Fr. Ed


P.S. Thanks for your prayers of intercession with Our Lady of Guadalupe and the praying of the Psalms.

Perfectly said. There's nothing more for me to add.