Ashes

One day, we, too will be nothing more than ashes. 

So long.

I'll keep you in my prayers forever

Dies Cinerum

 

Back at the Abbey, one of the many tasks the seminarians performed was managing the wealth of rose gardens on the Abbey property. While this task was typically assigned during work afternoons, it was not uncommon to see two priests work on the roses in their spare time. They would often be found watering, pruning, distributing fertilizer among a myriad of other tasks. 

Despite the difficult work, and the work was often performed under the hot California sun, the priests were always joyful to do it. Now it may be because the work was a pleasant distraction from the many other sources of stress or irritation, but I concede that they loved the work because they loved the roses; they loved the joy the roses brought others; they loved the scent, the beauty, and colour: working on the rose garden had a definite and wonderful outcome.

Now working (and suffering) with joy should not be a foreign concept to us Catholics. Work, by nature, is not pleasant, but it is not incompatible with joy. In fact, we seminarians used to joke that another priest only found joy in work. I wish to dispel, however, at least for the moment, that the labour of Lent must be deprived of all joy.  Fasting, prayer and almsgiving may be difficult works of mercy, but they do not mean that we must drag our feet to do it.

Fasting, prayer and alsmgiving are Lenten works; we fast, or prune away, those unnecessary things, those things that drag us away from the good to which we ought to strive. Prayer nourishes our soul, and we give alms, from our own treasury, for the good of others.

Yes these works are difficult: fasting from our favourite delights can be trying; finding time for prayer can be trying, especially when we come to the end of the day and we've already forgotten; almsgiving, when we would rather save for something we want, or even spend for something we want, can be difficult. 

But when we put those things together, the garden of our soul can be prepared well, beautiful and aromatic for our Lord. And that should be enough, maybe just for a moment, for us to be joyful in our work for Him who we love.

Happy Lent Everyone!

Gold Members

It only takes a few moments on Facebook and Instagram to realize a common theme on my thread: my friends have been blessed to experience the world in such beautiful ways. Whether it be sharing some of the earliest and most precious moments of a new born child's life, or the myriad of extraordinary summits of life conquered with no little difficulty, my friends seem to lead very blessed lives, thanks be to God.

Among those aforementioned blessings are no small number of travel experiences: there seems to be no end of vacation videos and photos from some of the most beautiful places (and food) in the world. This past weekend, I was able to go on my own little experience, albeit, in a very simple way: a group of very good friends traveled to the Sunshine Coast to share a weekend together.

It may not have been the most extravagant of vacations: friends took turns preparing meals for one another; the Sunshine Coast is only a few hours away from where everyone lives; there was no fantastically extraordinary program or activity.

And yet, what was lacking in physical extravagance was made up for genuine enjoyment. There was no shortage of laughs, often at each other's expense; there were board games, card games, and even an old Xbox 360; there was great music, singing, and dancing; there was even a wall of envelopes which facilitated an opportunity for each friend to write notes to one another (...although I...kinda... chose... not to participate).

Some things are good in of themselves. This particular group of friends combines a healthy sense of love for Christ, swagger, affection, bullying, laughter, levity, introspection and fun.

It takes a lot for a person to take oneself seriously enough to strive for holiness, and lightly enough to laugh at their own faults. It takes a lot to laugh out loud in one second, and reflect about insecurity and sin in the next. It takes a lot to welcome someone new to a tightly-knit group of childhood friends. And it takes a lot to enjoy something so simple, with extraordinary joy and love.

If you don't believe me...bet.

Why I Despise...

I had the great joy of being with some good friends watching playoff football these last couple of weeks and I have to say that it seems more fun when someone is invested emotionally in the games. It does not take long to see their prejudice emerge: from sympathizing with beneficial faulty officiating, to reprimanding the opposition for celebrating too early, the pendulum of emotion swings even more wildly with those who rise and fall with their respective teams.

And although I have my own sports preferences, I was even accused, by those who I was watching with, of being a "hater." I would be remiss if I said that this title does not apply to me at least on some level but that does not prevent his comment from being misdirected. Contrary to expectation, I do not hate the New England Patriots.  Yes, they beat my Seahawks in the Super Bowl, but that  instance was as much Seattle losing it as it does the Patriots winning it.

Being a fan, or a hater as my interlocutor pointed out, has very little to do with reason. I should like the Patriots: they are a well run organization dedicated to winning; they do not reward selfishness, and they very rarely glorify themselves above reasonable expectation. On the most part, their players stay out of trouble, and no one can accuse anyone in New England of  'doing it for the money.' And yet, while I do suffer from Patriots fatigue, I do not hate them. They're admirable, but on the most part, I'm actually apathetic to them. I do not have any problem with someone arguing that Brady and Belichick are the greatest of all time. 9 Super Bowls in 18 years is pretty self-explanatory.

Now this apathy cannot be applied to other teams, which again I admit, goes against the habitual use of reason. Now some of the teams who I hate are self explanatory: eg: the Toronto Maple Leafs. As a true Vancouverite, it is against my nature to root for the Leafs in any shape or fashion.

Sometimes, my disdain comes from the narrative of false obligation: just because the Raptors are the only team located in Canada does not mean I should root for them. Ask anyone in Alabama if they start rooting for their in-state rivals in any other competition. No. Of course not. Fans of the Auburn Tigers do not root for the Crimson Tide just because they are from the same state. Please don't ask me to root for the Raptors; they are not Canada's team. They are merely, a team in Canada.

With that being said, here is a list of teams I despise, and for reasons either pretty funny, or entirely emotional

Why I Despise the...

This one easily proves my point. First, in a division full of times which I am either apathetic (Denver Broncos), root for on a remote to semi-remote level (Oakland Raiders), to full on follow (LA Chargers), the Chiefs are easily one of my more despised teams. But the real reason is more funny than that. When I was a kid, I collected basketball, hockey, and of course, football cards. Typically, I was rewarded with a few packs here and there when I did well enough in school, or when I could find enough spare change lying around in couch cushions or birthday money. 

One day, however, my father bought me a box, which consisted of several packs of cards (probably 16 at the very least). Suffice to say, I was elated at my new found treasure. Unfortunately for me, in the first 5 packs of cards I received, I collected 7-Christian Okoye cards. Not one. Not two. But seven! I was easily bored of his picture and resented his bright red Kansas City Chiefs uniform. From then on, I despised the Chiefs. From picking up Joe Montana, to Dante Hall and the current edition of high flying Chiefs, I find it nearly impossible to root for them.

Believe it or not, this comes from a root of respect and admiration. When I was a kid, I loved watching the Chicago Bulls (yeah, I'm that old. No regrets) and though I rooted for the Bulls over the Lakers, I did not hate the Lakers, even after Magic hastened my childhood after encouraging me to have "safe sex." No, the reason I hate the Lakers is because of Kobe Bryant. Now I do not subscribe to my disdain of him because he's cocky; if that were the rationale behind rooting for or against professional athlete, the rooting list would be very slim. No, the reason I resent Kobe is because he had the audacity of claiming to be Jordan's heir apparent. He also was the reason the Lakers jettisoned one of my favourite players: Eddie Jones. He also thought he was somehow more important than Shaquille O'Neal, or that Pau Gasol wasn't extremely important to his championship aspirations. I hate the Lakers, and will never root for them now, if only because I would never give my beloved friends who are Lakers fans, the satisfaction of joining their little cult. No. Never.