Christmas Lights Everywhere!

I can't get over how beautiful Kansas City becomes during advent, with all of the Christmas lights hung and glowing.
There hardly seemed to be any lights like this in Hilo, Hawaii.
Part of that, I'm sure, is the cost of electricity in Hawaii. It's very expensive, and leads many people in Hawaii to live "off the grid" or on solar power.
It sure feels like advent in KC, and I'm amazed at the beauty of the evening when it reflects such color and hopefulness.
The Lord is so good!

A Full-Course Meal!

I slept an incredible 14&1/2 hours last night after my overnight flight from Hawaii on Friday, so I went to an evening Mass tonight.
Before I went, though, I read about an advent festival at the downtown Episcopal Cathedral at 5:00 pm tonight. Since I planned to go to the downtown Catholic Cathedral for Mass at 6:00 pm, I decided to sample the festival before heading over to Mass.
In effect, I had a full-course meal, with "A Festival of Advent Lessons and Music" at the Episcopal Cathedral (top picture) serving as my appetizer, and the Mass at the Catholic Cathedral (lower picture) becoming a wonderful banquet.
While the music was nice at the Festival, it was extraordinary at the Mass. One of the most beautiful songs was "The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns" by John Brownlie, who lived from 1857 to 1925. Both lyrics and melody were gorgeous and sumpteous. I can't describe what a joy it was to celebrate such a liturgically perfect Mass with incredible music and an advent theme in the cold December evening, inside of a warm and glowing cathedral.
How good God is!

Our Tenants

We have quite a few tenants on our two, spaghetti-length acres of land here in Mountain View. About twenty of them are chickens (but not, alas, this egg, to be eaten soon).
Chickens are unusual creatures, I have found. Roosters are very different from hens, and both can fall into one of only a few categories. For instance, I have found that all roosters (so far) crow, but not all are aggressive. Some hens are good brooders and chick-raisers, but some ignore their brood and even let their eggs be eaten.
Nonetheless, they make for generally good company.
I am amazed at the beauty of God's creation whenever I am here in Hawaii, not just for chickens, but for the stars and flowers and rain and sun and trees and frogs and crabs and lizards and on and on. I just read this morning that there may be three times the sextillion number of stars previously estimated to exist. I bet there's a sextillion times that number, or, more likely, infinity-number of stars.
Wow!!

St. Joseph Church - Hilo

I have had the opportunity to attend Mass in the four area Catholic churches in the Hilo area over the past twelve days, and St. Joseph is the largest, warmest, sunniest and best-lit of them all. The religious order that staffs this church, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, was founded in Paris in 1856, and has missions all over the world. The priests at St. Joseph all hail from the Philippines, and know of the order with which I have been associated since arriving in KC 38 years ago: SOLT, or the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. I feel so blessed to have this wonderful relationship with these priests and church.
Because I am leaving Hawaii this afternoon, I went to a different church this morning, Sacred Heart Church in nearby Pahoa. I was privileged to catch a Holy Hour after Mass that included an opportunity for confession. A lot of folks my age (59) joke about never passing up a bathroom visit, and I would add to that another "should not miss": the opportunity to go to (frequent) confession. When I got back to the house and told Karol about one of the "fruits" of my confession, she in turn joked that it's never a bad idea to get to confession before leaving on a 4000 mile, two-stop-over, plane trip! But what I found was a great confessor who took the time to address some of my failings in such a thoughtful and insightful manner. Fr. Joey is a great priest, and he remembered me from my past visits, and led me this morning to a deeper union with God.
What blessings I have received on this visit "home". Now, its back to work in the near-winter conditions of KC!

No Whales....

....but plenty of peace as I walked along the coast today on my 59th birthday. I feel very blessed to have attended a beautiful Mass in Hilo today where Father Greg gave a great homily on the heavenly banquet.
We had such a banquet at my house tonight, with an incredible cheesecake baked by my daughter, Liz!

Scrupulosity

Karol loves the Little Flower, St. Therese of Liseaux. Over the years of our marriage, she has shared with me many times how "the little way" contrasts with my more rigid observance of my faith.
I really could not appreciate and understand this "little way". I could see the huge impact it had on Karol's life and spirituality. She is a deeply humble person, unlike me, and she was, and still is, almost totally focused on loving and caring for our children, now adults.
Interestingly, the parish in which we reside is St. Theresa Parish, after the Little Flower. Moreover, we have a grotto in our back yard in Hawaii where we installed a small statue of St. Therese. It is lovely.
So when I arrived in Hawaii recently for Thanksgiving and found myself exhausted and jet-lagged, with other modern anxieties in tow, I picked up one of Karol's books about The Little Flower and devoured it! More than ever before, I "got" her, as "they" say. Then, when I came across her reflections on her battle with "scruples" (a term then in use which is now referred to as scrupulosity), I saw myself. I saw what Karol had been seeing in me throughout our marriage.
I asked the Lord for healing, and to be possessed more by Him, as completely as it would be possible. In other words, I let Him take charge, so that I would even give Him now my worries and anxieties, not just what I thought was worthy in me to give Him.
What a difference!
Thank you, Lord, for this marvelous Flower you gave us; for the love of my wife, who has guided me to this little, and wonderful, way, of love and mercy and forgiveness (of self).
I'm prepared to return to Kansas City this Friday and to resume my work and training. Thank you, Jesus.