I'm getting married in 63 days. Today, we met with the priest who will be marrying us. We were all set up to meet at the church, until my fiance locked his keys in the car! We were at a popular tourist spot, so lots of people were around but none with a coat-hanger handy. I called up Father John, told him of our situtation, and he turned around and came to meet us, then left to get a coat hanger, and waited until we got the car open. What a lifesaver and a sweetheart! I have never been one to call upon a priest for a favor like this, but he pulled through when the local police would not come with a slim jim.
We picked our readings today. We're going with genesis (I forget the number, but it's where God creates man and woman and makes them in His likeness), Colossians something or other, and John something or other (the one where Jesus is talking about the great commandment to love). Okay, here they are: Genesis 1:26-28,31; Col 3:12-17; and John 15:9-12). I like all of these because they are calls to action: calls to love our neighbor and our community, and to lovingly take care of God's creation. I did really campaign for the Beatitudes, but I do like these passages because they are not just about personal striving for good. Genesis calls for the teamwork of a man-wife couple, that they might set an example of love-in-action for the community, and in John that love is to be achieved not as a solo effort but through others.
I hope that in my marriage, I will be able to both lean on the example and advice of other married couples, and that we will set a good example to other married couples (after we get a few years of practice in!). I hope to have a light and to be a light. I want there to be reciprocity within the marriage, and also between our marriage and our greater world.
While I certainly don't wish that those who have been so helpful to me lately find themselves in need, I do hope to be able to return the favor in some way! Should your local neighborhood priest need a slim jim, maybe you can help him out.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
It Gets Better
I went to the Grand Canyon in early June and hiked the rim-to-rim trail with some family members. It was a 23 mile hike spread over two days. As my brother and I flew down to Arizona, a real chatty Cathy got talking to my brother about the upcoming trip. She promised that it would be a "spiritual experience," and that we were doing the Grand Canyon right.
As we trudged through some 120* heat on the first day, blistered and run out of water, my brother and I joked bitterly, "Are you having a spiritual experience yet?" The second day was much harder, and I was flooded with thoughts of how unprepared we were, that it was someone's fault for not packing enough food, that it was Dad's fault for suggesting this trip would be easy, that it would be "a walk in the park." I almost had several princess-diva fits, but managed to swallow the growing sobs and keep walking.
As we walked along the bottom of the canyon, the sun rising over the canyon and lighting up the rocks, I thought, "It does get better." Another day dawns, the light shines again. I thought back to being 14, ready to end my life, and where I stood that day in the canyon. I had been broken and put back together, broken again, and put back together again many times. I was now a homeowner, on the brink of getting married, with good health and much to be thankful for.
I tried to keep this mantra in my head as we began the painful ascent that would take 7 hours for about 4.5 miles. This hardship will soon be over. I will be able to take off these boots and rest and be thankful.
I have hope in having hope again. My grandmother passed away about six weeks ago, and I have kept a framed prayer that was in her old parent's bedroom.
"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown,' And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'" *Copyright Louise Harkins
I have been abandoned in this life; I have sometimes been forgotten but I will always have God's love to find myself again.
As we trudged through some 120* heat on the first day, blistered and run out of water, my brother and I joked bitterly, "Are you having a spiritual experience yet?" The second day was much harder, and I was flooded with thoughts of how unprepared we were, that it was someone's fault for not packing enough food, that it was Dad's fault for suggesting this trip would be easy, that it would be "a walk in the park." I almost had several princess-diva fits, but managed to swallow the growing sobs and keep walking.
As we walked along the bottom of the canyon, the sun rising over the canyon and lighting up the rocks, I thought, "It does get better." Another day dawns, the light shines again. I thought back to being 14, ready to end my life, and where I stood that day in the canyon. I had been broken and put back together, broken again, and put back together again many times. I was now a homeowner, on the brink of getting married, with good health and much to be thankful for.
I tried to keep this mantra in my head as we began the painful ascent that would take 7 hours for about 4.5 miles. This hardship will soon be over. I will be able to take off these boots and rest and be thankful.
I have hope in having hope again. My grandmother passed away about six weeks ago, and I have kept a framed prayer that was in her old parent's bedroom.
"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown,' And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'" *Copyright Louise Harkins
I have been abandoned in this life; I have sometimes been forgotten but I will always have God's love to find myself again.
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