Crisis Intervention Training

This past Wednesday, I spent an hour at the County Jail talking about the importance of Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). I was part of the "family panel" with Larry Aron (facing the camera in the picture) as we gave personal testimony about mental illness.
If the policemen who came to my house on November 11, 2002 had received CIT, I firmly believe that my son, Aaron, would not have been shot and killed that day. I'll talk 'till the cows come home anytime anywhere about the value of CIT.

Taking Shape

Things are starting take shape at DeLaSalle with a new roof, and a new sign announcing the new charter!

Ominous Clouds, Thunder, Sirens (and Mercy)

I returned to work in my downtown Kansas City office on Friday, August 20, and spent most of the day ensconced in my office that has no windows. Around 2:30 pm, I thought I'd step outside for a minute and see what was happening.
I was surprised to see dark clouds and to hear the rumbling of thunder, accompanied by a wailing siren. I have been used to foreboding clouds in Hilo but not thunder and certainly not a possible tornado!
Whenever things look this ominous, I'm reminded of the times in which we live and God's justice.

The Four Angels of Holy Rosary Church in Ke'eau

They are each unique, with individual expressions and postures.
These four angels are positioned at four pivotal stations within the small Catholic church in Ke'eau, about 8 miles down the mountain from our house.
The two angels holding the sanctuary candles (top two pictures) are at either side of the front of the church, facing the altar and tabernacle.
The two angels holding the bowls for holy water (bottom two pictures) are at the back of the church facing one another.
Angels have a special role in our faith as Catholics and Christians.
They were created by God for specific purposes and functions, and have characteristics associated with one of the nine different "choirs" to which all angels belong.
These choirs, in descending order of rank, are as follows: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels.
It is only my guess, but I think these angels are of the Cherubim rank, as it would be their duty to be celestial attendants and to praise God.
All of us have a Guardian Angel, whose rank is that of angel. Their role is to deliver prayers to God, and God's answers and blessings to us, as well as to care for us.
May your angel guard and protect you all the days of your life!

Chores

One of the chores I had to do before leaving was to help Karol with her garden and plants.
It was pretty mundane, but I really enjoy working outside for a change.
I will return to Kansas City soon and go back to desk work, so I need to soak up as much outside energy as I can!
I was pretty worn out after kayaking and gardening, but I knew that last night was a special night.
It was one of the key nights of the annual meteor shower know as the Perseid, peaking every year between August 9 to 14. Because this annual "shower" occurs around the August 10 feast of St. Lawrence, a early Church deacon martyred for his faith (roasted over an open fire on a spit), it is sometimes referred to as "the tears of St. Lawrence".
It is so rainy and cloudy up here on the mountain, though, that I thought I had little chance of viewing it.
Before I went to bed, I did see Venus, Mars and Saturn arrayed around the crescent moon, but the rest of the sky here was clouded over.
I looked out my window at midnight, and there were no stars.
But at 3:30 am, I could see that stars were filling the part of the sky visible from my window.
In spite of the lure of my warm bed, I went outside and it was remarkable: every inch of the sky was full of stars! I saw the Milky Way and Venus was now directly overhead. I watched as several meteors streaked though the southern sky!
It was cold, perhaps in the upper-fifties, so I went back inside to put on my sweatshirt and windbreaker and spent the next thirty minutes watching the sky in awe. I was filled with wonder, thrilled with the enormity of God's creation.
I recalled the words that God spoke to Abraham, when He called him out at night and made His covenant with him, promising Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars that filled the sky that long-ago night.
Last night, I felt God's promise to me reverberate deep within me. I had a locution more than 32 years ago that God would be with me in my suffering. I felt Him say to me that long-ago night: "I will take care of you." He has, and He continues to care for me, and console me, so much. I know and believe that God is faithful! But with my depression and failures, I do not always feel that way.
I am certainly not worthy of God's promises or gifts, yet He gives them.
I have been so blessed, and so touched by the miracles of creation, by the depths and power of the sea, to the enormity of the solar system and stars, to the fires and heat of volcanoes and magma.
How can I keep from believing in You, my Lord and my God?!

Hilo Bay

I decided yesterday to do one of the personal things I had kept putting off.
With Karol's concurrence, I drove down to Hilo and rented a kayak for the morning.
There was no rain and only a very light wind on a sunny day, and I easily made it to the tsunami wall in the bay. (The wall appears as a low shadow in the distance in the first picture, well beyond the small sailboat.) The swells out beyond the wall frightened me, so I headed back in to shore. The ride in was rougher than going out, as it seemed I was fighting the tide.
Back on shore, I got my breviary from the car and prayed Morning Prayer, praising God for the majesty of His creation.
I saw Mauna Kea in the distance (see the second picture, with the kayak in the foreground), the highest mountain in Hawaii.
I was tired and had plenty of chores to do back at the house, so I strapped the kayak back to my car and returned to the rental agency.
When I got back to the rental location, I had a nice visit with the owner of the business. Turns out that he is a neighbor of mine, and operates a hostel just a mile from our house here on the mountain. He was a rough Texan, interspersing curse words throughout his conversation, telling me how he had managed to thrive on the Big Island, where it can be pretty tough. When he showed me a picture of his arrival in Hawaii 35 years ago on a sailboat he had built and with his two lovely children posing with him, I asked what the kids were doing now. His gruff exterior instantly changed, when he informed me that his son had died 10 years ago in a motorcycle accident. I told him I lost a child as well, and he shared something I hear a lot, but now question, regarding how you never expect to lose a child. I think that is a parent's worst fear, and it was always at the back of my mind. Before Aaron died, I hoped it would never happen, as I hope now that it does not recur with our other three children. But it can be a violent world, and I hope and pray for the continued grace of life for our family and for all.

Transfiguration!

What a bittersweet feast!
On August 6, Catholics celebrate the magnificent feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor.
Jesus gave James, John and Peter a sense of His majesty and glory when He was suddenly transfigured before their eyes, and was seen speaking with Moses and Elijah.
On August 6, 2002, I hospitalized my son, Aaron, against his will, calling the police to our house to break into his room and take him forcibly to Western Missouri Mental Health Center. I hoped that he would be transformed by this experience, and for a while, he was. He began taking his medicine again, went to therapy regularly, even twice weekly for a month, and enrolled in vocational rehabilitation.
But a little over three months later, on November 11, 2002, he had stopped his meds and therapy, and had seemingly lost hope again. This time, he called the police to our house. I later learned that one of the two policemen who had responded to our call on August 6 was one of the six policemen at our house on November 11. Before he entered our house, he had told another policeman, the commanding officer on the scene, that he had been there before, and that our son was ill. Nonetheless, on that later occasion, the commanding officer opened fire inside our house, shooting Aaron five times, while another policeman responded with three gunshots.
That same afternoon, Karol saw Aaron in the arms of Jesus, transformed!
On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the first atomic bomb on a public site, the city of Hiroshima.
On another August 6, in 1978, Pope Paul VI died, passing into glory. I loved Pope Paul VI because of his courageous stand on human life, when he gave us his striking encyclical, Humane Vitae, in 1968.
I pray and believe that Jesus calls us all to transfiguration, and that this feast today is a call to glory, like that of the rainbow early this morning as the sun was just rising here in Mountain View!