Classroom ~

I taught her in the fifth grade. She wrote saying I made a great impression on her for the rest of her life, for I had told her once to brush her teeth every day. She had done that and has a set of teeth to this day that everyone admires.

Goings-on ~

I heard someone comparing the catastrophic political atmosphere with John of the Cross's Dark Night of the Soul. He saw it positively, as laying the ground for a spiritual recovery, once everything has been reduced to nothing . . .

De Diligendo Deo ~

God is Great— What do you do if your notion of God and Jesus conflict? The former seems for the most part confined by the latter.

 

Coming into Focus ~

With 80-plus finally coming to understand what a momentous, catastrophic event the First World War was.

Memory Fading ~

. . . Now I know why mother was irritated every time I wanted to play our do-you-remember game . . .

You are what you will ~

. . . I discover that it was my desires that regulated my advancement/lack of advancement in life. I never got beyond what I desired.

With 80 Plus ~

The liberating awareness that there is really nothing we have to believe in . . . once we have learned to trust.

Mother ~

Came across this obituary in the newspaper this morning:


"For the world she was a nobody, for me she was the world. I had to let my mother go. My love and gratitude for her will only die when I die."

Disappointment ~

Drove 250 miles to Schwaebisch Hall just to see this painting. But, just five days before, it had been sent to Berlin on loan.

Bounty ~

The lilacs are so profuse this year that, 

when I open my window near the bush, 

their sweet scent comes flooding in.

With 80 Plus ~

On seeing people over 60 I feel a strong sympathetic tie with them, a felt respect, just because they have made it so far through life. They too, have been "through the mill" . . . 

Flying Time ~

The fastest hour of the day is the one I spend at the piano after breakfast.

Encouragement ~

Last night In a dream I was trying to convince a down-and-out parish priest how good his work had been and how I admired him for his steady, sincere apostleship. I called him a Man of God, but he wouldn't hear it.

 

With 80 plus ~

With 80 plus it isn't so much the surfaces of things that interests you, but rather what under-girds them.

Spring ~

I watch the spring miracle happening at our window.

Urology Verdict~

There was an eerie, absolute silence in the waiting room at the doctor's office this morning, broken only by the nurse almost inaudibly requesting the next patients.

 

Contentment ~

The grandchildren kept begging us to play with them—and when we did they were perfectly satisfied if we would just sit and watch.

With 80 plus ~

. . . You realize that at 70 you started to see things as they really were.

Sunrise ~

Another day, another gift, given me.

With 80 plus ~

Why so hard to just put one foot out in front of the other and walk, erect. I used to be so secretly proud of my gait.

With 80 plus

You hear little children yelling at the the playground and hear their voices echoing fifty years into the future . . .

Reading ~

Too heartbreaking to read—that final chapter. I keep putting it off.

With 80 plus

When you look out through your eyes you see things differently: You see a fifty-year-old and he or she becomes an innocent little first grader.

Articles of Faith ~

And what if there is no afterlife in heaven, or the other places we are supposed to go to? Should that make me love You less? I cannot love You just to make sure I get into heaven.

Facing Reality ~

What ever became of all my good intentions and determination to center my life on God? Time is running out and I see I have devoted myself to other priorities.

Consumption

I watch the trucks passing by and ask if we need everything their loaded with. Wouldn't we be happier without? If only we could concentrate on the pearl we have.

Thomas Merton ~

Lauding him as a "representative of the American people "

Pope Francis said: 

"Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions."

... words in an address before Congress. 

September 24, 2015

Rammenau Castle near Dresden ~

At a concert here last evening they played some Scott Joplin and Leroy Anderson while on the walls the portraits of nobles who once lived here looked down at us with knitted brows.

In the Tumult ~

There are places of quiet and rest. 

Munich, Germany 

Lenbachhaus

Learning to See ~

Lesson in Anthropology

Gabriel von Max

Lenbachhaus, Munich

Mothers ~

On the battlefield

the wounded and dying men

cried out to God —

or to their mothers . . .

Insight ? ~

"For me pain has no meaning."

Statement by Peter Hintze 

Vice President of the German Bundestag.

Protestant theologian,

while debating assisted suicide.

The Time has Come ~

The wheat stands high in the fields waiting for the harvesters with scythes.

Helps in Life ~

What this Carthusian monk does,

in silence and solitude,

is my constant strengthening inspiration.

La Grande Chartreuse, Grenoble, France

Morning Walk ~ At the Baltic Sea

Ruegen

We walked on tiny white seashells and sand that morning.

To a Razor ~

Praised be you, my razor,

for serving me for six months,

unlike those that needed new blades daily

back when I was twenty-one.

That the Seed Take Root ~

Stood and watched the farmer harrowing his field, row for row, patiently, in a cloud of dust.

Nazi Concentration Liberated ~ April 15, 1945

Shades of Shoah

One Sunday morning in Munich

Seventy years later

Six suitcases painted white

Stood on a sidewalk

Each with a rose stuck on

And nametags.

People walked past,

Stopped, bent over to read

And continued on

With shoulders stooped—

Wrenched from Sunday calm.

To Understand the World ~

"To understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close to hand and make it stand in for the whole. . ."

                                                           from: The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

Outside My Window ~

In 10 below zero weather a black bird sat in the lilac bush under a canopy of snow for one full hour, all hunched and meditating . . .

Merton's 100th Birthday ~

There was supposed to be a weekend seminar held at this Benedictine monastery here in Germany about Thomas Merton which I was excited about and signed up for. It was called off because of lack of participants.

Mothers of the Fallen ~

Take your hands from your eyes wet with tears, dear Mother, to show us the beauty there that your suffering has caused.

We Are All Brothers ~

Spent the day in Stuttgart visiting museums walking around downtown. I saw thousands of people but not one of them would look me in the eye or show any sign of recognizing me as a fellow human being.

Civil Courage ~ Good Angel

She was a 22 year university student here in Germany. One evening last week she intervened to help two girls, 13 and 16, who were being harassed by three men near the rest room in a McDonald's restaurant. She helped to free the girls but shortly thereafter an 18-year-old attacked her in the parking lot hitting her so violently that she fell and suffered a brain concussion when her head hit the pavement. Taken to the hospital she survived in a coma for one week. This morning Tugce Albayra passed away. It was her 23rd birthday.

Vain Effort ~

All the theology classes are of no avail in bringing me closer to experiencing who God is.

God's Harlequin ~

In spite of all my weaknesses, my hang-ups, my excesses I know that I am Your creation, Your flawed creation. Maybe, maybe, You have always wanted me just that way. Maybe You take delight in me. That's why I bear with myself, trusting You.

Destination ~

Are the luxurious, high tech BMWs and Cadillacs the seniors are driving all rushing along the roads to make it to their drivers' funerals on time?

Arnold Palmer ~ 85th Birthday

Dear Arnie,

Would like to let you know that you were, and are, an inspiration for me on my life's rough fairways. I often recalled your composed determination, and it kept me going. 

Thank you so much,

Charles [4 years younger] 

____________

♰ September 25, 2016

Remembering the Holocaust ~

Seventy Years Later

Auschwitz

One Sunday morning in Munich

Seventy years later 

I saw six suitcases painted white 

Standing on a sidewalk 

Each with a rose stuck on 

And nametags. 

People came past 

Stopped, bent over to read 

And continued on with stooped shoulders— 

Wrenched from Sunday calm.

Like a Morning Prayer ~

Held the umbrella slanted against the wind and walked, looking down at the path, concentrated for once, without distractions.