21st Sunday, Ordinary time, 8-22-2021

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," says Bill.

 

Readings:

Sirach  15, 15-20, Before man life and death, good and evil

Psalm 119,  Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2, 6-10,  What eye has not seen.. What God has prepared for those who love him.

Matthew 5, 17-37  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out.

 

 

Thanks, Grace, for lighting today's candles while the girls are away for the week end.

 

Observations:  on Sirach—

What:  This is one of those 12 odd books in between the Old and the New Testament.

 Author: a Jewish teacher called Joshua.  The only identified author in the whole Old Testament.  He tells us who he is, that he is a teacher, lived in Jerusalem, and traveled a lot.  It seems he put his work together while running a school in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

 

Thanks, John, for reading today's Blessing of the Candles.

 

 His grandson translated the Hebrew work into Greek.  This Hebrew text was lost for centuries until the 19^th century, when 2/3 of it was found in Cairo.  Then other portions were found in Qumran and Masada, as late as 1964.

 Date: composed around 175 years before Christ.  About 90 years before Christ the Jews put together their official bible, but excluded Sirach because they could not find the Hebrew version, only the Greek. 

 

 

The bearer of gifts, Loretta, Richard, & Cody.

 

 Christians accepted the book as part of their bible in the 2^nd century after Christ.  The Council of Trent (keep 1555 in mind as a date) officially accepted it, making it part of that extra 12 books called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical.  Martin Luther rejected the book & so do many Protestant congregations today.

 Subject Matter: practical ethics, duties.  Beware of the either / or spirituality presented.  Also, what about unconditional love??

 

 

 

Today's Team, John & John.

 

Subject today: you may choose good or bad.  Beware of the either / or spirituality presented in the reading.    All is either good or bad.  No in between or both, which is more what we all are, both good and bad.  

It can be simplistic & Pelagian, that is, it is all up to you and you have all the strength needed to choose good.  Pelagians thought that you had to EARN your salvation.  Therefore, the more religious stuff you did, like the more Masses, the more pilgrimages to the church & shrines, the more novenas & rosaries,  the more merit you win for yourself.

Psalm 119: the longest of all the psalms.  A focus on observance of the laws, decrees, and statutes.

 

 

Communion time.

 

Matthew 5:  a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Note the figures of speech called “antitheses,” namely, “You have heard it said, but, I say to you.”  4 even 5 times.  Matthew is trying to establish the authority & authenticity of Jesus.

See if you can find any unconditional love in this passage?  

Sources: Good News Bible; New Interpreter's Bible; Reginal Fuller, S.J., David Westberg, S.J., & Larry Gillick, S.J., St. Louis U. Liturgies, on line; Wikipedia .

 

 

Communion helpers & cleaners

 

Wako Spirituality

We have been here before, Folks.  In fact, Mike says to me, “So, are you going to start with that same story again?”  Yes, Everybody, we begin with that same story.  Just a quick reminder.  Here we go.

When I was studying theology in Toronto years ago, like maybe 1970, an article came out in the local newspaper.  Some guy had read the passage saying that if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  He did it, folks. 

 

 

Shonda & Ben, The Best.

 

 In this passage from Matthew there are five pieces of advice to the early Christians which taken literally can get a person all messed up.  Is there a positive as well as a negative to each? 

Two observations before I touch the five.  I have mentioned this so often that I hope you are not worn out.  First, infinite demand and infinite acceptance.  Watch out here for a lot of infinite demand.  I’ll give a positive & a negative for each.  Secondly, God, unconditional love.

 

 

 

Bill getting us ready for the Love for Kids picnic, this for handicapped kids.

 

Matthew’s five pieces of advice are 1. breaking the least commandment,  2. getting angry,  3. looking at a woman, 4. divorce, and  5. swearing.  Here goes.

• Matthew says that if you break the smallest commandment you will be the least in the kingdom.  Moreover, unless you are better than the Pharisees, you will not even get into the kingdom.  The positive here is that the bar is set high.  The negative is that all, all of us sinners will be kept out. It creates scruples and obsessive compulsive behavior.  

 

 

It always tastes better through the nose.

 

• Secondly, if you get mad at me and call me a fool, you are going to Hell.  I love it.  The positive here is the call to anger management.  I am challenged to know that all feelings are okay and need to be controlled.  The negative is that it gives me the idea that anger is not allowed, so stuff it.  Trouble is, it does not stuff well.  Not like a sleeping bag or tent.  It pops up in unexpected places.

• Looking at a woman with lust.  The positive here is teaching respect for all people.  This advice, written by men for men, was attempting to gain some respect for women who were looked upon as property.  I found this in Tanzania & Kenya.  Rosemary read me an article about some guy who cut off his wife’s ears and nose for reporting him for abuse.   The negative is that it teaches us that feelings are sinful.  In the old days, we thought we looked at a girl and we were going to hell.  This is doubly sad because I don’t think there is a hell anyway.

 

 

 

More of the same, please.

 

• Divorce is adultery.  The positive is that it reinforces the unity of marriage.  The negative is that people stay in abusive or addictive marriages long after it may even be safe.  Divorce is failure and we all fail sometimes even in tragic ways.  In order to escape using the word divorce the Catholic Church comes up with the more convoluted word Annulment.

• Swearing.  The positive is that it involves politeness and respect for others.  Even if I am okay with my anger I do not swear at someone.  The negative is that it tightens us up.  We forget the therapeutic value of cussing, maybe a healthy & fun way of releasing anger.  The healthy Jesuits I lived with certainly partook of this therapy. 

 

 

Welcome home, Loretta.

 

 The overall danger in these pieces of advice is that we really get messed up, forgetting two things.  First they are presenting infinite demand and they make no mention of infinite acceptance.

Secondly, where is the God of unconditional love?

 The poor guy in Toronto who blinded himself is an example of how we can mess ourselves up with goofy religion.  

 Where are you with these ideas?

 

 

Readings: Deuteronomy 30, 10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1, 15-20; LUKE 10, 25-37, The Good Samaritan.

Deuteronomy: the scene is the desert outside the promised land.  Moses is talking to the people about all that has happened to them since he led them out of Israel and through the desert for many years.  Now, as they prepare to enter, and Moses is dying, he is simply exhorting them to love Yahweh and obey his laws.

Moses talks about a command, but never mentions exactly what it is.  Watch for the answer in today’s gospel.  The Great Command.

The Good Samaritan

I am going to do an explication of text today. 

Initially this parable looks like simply an encouragement to help others. Actually there is a second meaning, perhaps much more profound, especially for the Jews who are listening. It has to do with prejudice.

The setting. A Jewish lawyer is asking a question about his justification. Where does one draw the line in helping a person. Who is my neighbor? Some observations.

First, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously dangerous and plagued with thieves. That this man was alone is significant.  People would travel in groups for safety. Was he an outcast?  Friendless?  Not too intelligent or innocent?

Second, the man was stripped. For the lawyer this would signify that the man was without identity, of no identifiable class. In other words, he might not be a lawyer or intellectual or even a Jew. He was Every Person.  A human being.

The priest & the Levite. The lawyer would know why they did not stop to help. The Law. They could have been on the way to the temple and they could not cause themselves to be ritually impure. In the temple they had to be pure, no contact with dirty people orthey could not offer their sacrifice. Obviously organized religion still follows this practice. 

Along comes a Samaritan. To the Jewish lawyer & the Jewish listeners Samaritans were considered demon possessed.  Samaritans intermarried with pagans, i.e., people who did not recognize Yahweh as the name of their God. They would defile the temple just by entering. In sum, they were vile and dirty, certainly not capable of performing an act of love.  

But, to the surprise of the lawyer & the audience, it is the Samaritan who performs the act of love.  He even risks his own life by rescuing the man. Jesus further twists the knife by showing how the Samaritan goes beyond the call by setting the man up in an inn and promising to cover all his expenses.

The composer of the parable goes further and plays with two elements used in the temple sacrifice: oil and water.  He employs these elements to clean (purify?) the victim.  The author knows what he is suggesting in using these items.

Jesus is responding to the lawyer’s question, "Who is my neighbor," by saying "Everybody."  No prejudice.

Who is the number one neighbor you are taking care of today?

Audio: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-07-15.mp3

Readings:

Wisdom  3, 1-9,  The souls of the just are in the hand of God.

Psalm 23,   The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

1 John 3, 1-3,  See what love the Father has bestowed on us.

John 6, 37-40,  I will not reject anyone.

 

 

All Souls Day observations–

Let me give you a bit of history and the thinking behind this All Souls' Day.  Five observations: the theology, purgatory-limbo, a legend, pre-Christian practices, and today.

1.  The Theology.  All Souls' Day is part of a package with All Saints.  The idea is: on All Saints' Day we honor all those who are enjoying the beatific vision, that is, heaven, the saints.  On All Souls' Day we honor those who have died but have not reached heaven because they had penance to do. 

We are talking mortal & venial sin here.  If the person died with mortal sin, they are you know where. Those with venial sins have to go through purification and purging, which brings us to All Souls' Day and purgatory.

 

 

2.  Purgatory & limbo.  People ended up in purgatory to purify themselves with suffering, before being allowed into heaven.  Limbo was for whom?  It was for people, especially children who died without being baptized.  They remained there how long?  Forever.  Can you imagine a baby there or even in the old purgatory?

At least the Catholic Church recently acknowledged that the limbo idea was bogus.  The pope said it does not exist and never did.  Though many consider purgatory to be in the same class, it still exists.  Want to know how we know?  A previous pope was offering indulgences.  The indulgence is for the soul in purgatory.  It speeds up the process.  There are partial & total indulgences.  We can win them for these souls and get them out or we can win them for ourselves. 

For instance, on the last feast of Peter & Paul Rome offered an indulgence if you visited a church named after one or both of these two, and you recited a prescribed menu of prayers. 

 

 

3.  The legend.   It happened around 1000 A.D. that a monk, St. Idolo, from the French monastery of Cluny was shipwrecked on a desolate island as he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, i.e., Israel.  On the island he met a poor hermit.  The hermit told him that among the rocks was a crevice from which came the anguished voices of the many suffering in purgatory.  Likewise, listening carefully you could hear the devils cursing that living people were speeding up the sufferings of these souls by praying and doing penance for them. 

Some time after this, i.e., 1000 A.D., the Cluny Monastery established an All Souls' Day.  Ca. 1300 Rome followed suit.  

 

 

4.  Pre-Christian times.  There is evidence that at least in Mexico numerous tribes had a day or period when the departed ancestors were honored.  The purpose was to honor them, remember their example, and to communicate with them.  Today in Mexico & in Hispanic families the Day of the Dead is still celebrated.  This custom has been celebrated for 3,000 years.

5.  Today.  Limbo has been discarded by Rome and many scholars consider purgatory a dinosaur idea from antiquity.  Consequently, All Souls' Day celebrates Samantha, my mom & dad, Rosemary's mom & dad, and all our loved ones pictured on the stage.  All Saints' Day handles the canonized.   Hell is also considered today a mental concept, not real.

So we say, What special blessing did you receive from one of these people pictured or whom you remember in your heart?

 

 

Today's Saint

I would like to talk today about a saint for the day.  Every day has its saint. I want to talk about one.

Ever hear of a 67 year old black guy named Johnny Lindsay?  I read about him in the Dallas Morning News this summer.   Another of the army of exonerees. 

Johnny spent 26 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He got out in 2008.  Can you believe that, 26 years!  Oh, but how he had grown.  

 

 

He came out of prison without anger, bitterness, or desire for revenge.  In fact, he came out with a desire to do one thing positive for someone.  He had reached that acceptance state where peace lives.  

Ever since Johnny was 12 years old music had touched his spirit.  What kept his spirit alive those 26 years was music.  He sang in a choir the prisoners formed.  He said music was his saving grace and he dreamed all those years of finally being exonerated one day and doing one thing good for others.

 

 

At his release he was given $2 million.  So his wife, Sherita, and he decided to actually take piano lessons.   He met Debbie Beach and she became an inspiration for him.  She taught them and shared her dream to have her own music school.  Johnny & Sherita bought her all the keyboards she needed to open her school. 

Has Johnny come out of prison eager for revenge?  Does he hate?  Is he angry?   I think I would be.  However, he, like so many, many of these  exonerated men is at peace. 

 

Even this past Wedneswday, two men were exonerated and released after 14 years in prison.  They are not angry and not looking for revenge.   Johnny loves and accepts others.  He is at peace, with others and with himself. 

With whom are you not at peace?  What do you need to do to attain the peace Johnny has?

Reference:  Dallas Morning News, June 23, 2014. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Beth & Emma.

 

Readings: 

Acts of the Apostles, 5, 27-32, 40-41  We gave you strict orders to stop teaching in that name.

Psalm 30, I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Revelation 11-14, I, John, heard the voices of many angels.

John 21, 1-19, Jesus appears to the apostles at the Sea of Tiberias.

 

 

 

Watch out, Bill, you are a marked man. 

 

 

I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I would like to talk this morning about how the Lord has rescued me.  Like from my fears.

There was this happy hour.  About 6 to 10 of us first year Jesuit theology students put it together our first semester in Toronto.  Probably all of us had spent the last 3 years teaching in various Jesuit high schools from Seattle to NY, through Chicago, and Dallas where I taught at Jesuit.

It was great fun squeezing into each others’ small bedrooms for a drink and chatter about 5:30.  Lots of laughter & camaraderie.

 

 

 

Sophia & Georgie, you make a great candle lighting team. 

 

As the second semester began a number of us began to be a bit concerned that we were drinking a bit much.  Like one drink on week nights, 2 or three on weekends and holidays.   

So we decided to replace the happy hour to bundle up (Toronto gets lots of cold & snow in January) and run our half mile driveway to the entrance gate & back.  I even stopped drinking at this time for about 6-8 years, until I went to East Africa.

 

 

 

And John, Hue, Connie, and Patricia, what an offertory team you make.

 

Our property was a beautiful east west park like campus.  On the north side was the back yards of a row of, say 10 nice middle class houses.  Our drive passed along the row of houses.

Though I loved my Jesuit buddies and even enjoyed running  through the snow in the dark under occasional street lamps, I was sad that I would not have a warm house, kids, and a wife, like lived in those houses.  I even got close to a local Catholic family who had 6 kids.

 

 

 

A bikers' consultation.

 

Looking back now, the Lord was rescuing me, whispering in my spirit, You do not have to give up this life to be okay and to make a difference.

The next time I got the message was when I went to East Africa and saw how lots of good priests, bishops, and even a cardinal had common law wives.  The people cheered them for being normal.

 

 

 

Charlie, are you looking in somebody's pocket?  I caught you!

 

 

 

Getting kicked out of East Africa sent me back to the States different, open to a relationship, but certainly not knowing anyone .  I got into dancing and guess who came along, Rosemary.

And now a little story about our relationship which some of you have maybe heard piecemeal.  

 

 

Would you trust your cupcake with these two?

 

I asked Rosemary if she would marry me in 1990.  There was one enormous condition: that we wait to formally marry until 2005, when I would be 65.  Why?  Because once I  left the Jesuits I would have no insurance.   I had seen some of my guys leave, have a disease or accident, and cripple that marriage.  Guess what.  She agreed and this morning, Cinco de Mayo, we celebrate our 14^th. 

How has the Lord rescued you from your fears?

 

 

 

What a handsome group  of Romeos.  Eat your hearts out, Juliets.

Readings: 2 Samuel 7, 1-5, 8-16, The Lord said to King David, 'Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever;' Psalm 89, Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord; Romans 16, 25-27, To him who can strengthen you be glory; Luke 1, 26-38, The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin.   

 4th Sunday of Advent

Mary is told in our gospel reading that she is to give birth to the Messiah, the Christ. She asks the messenger from God how this could possibly happen. ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’ With astonishing faith she replies, ‘May it be done to me according to your word.’

As John the Baptist (the messenger of the past two Sunday liturgies) baptized the people in water, they acknowledged their sins. Then he tells them, ‘Christ will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ So that the Holy Spirit will come upon us.

How will this happen?  When we welcome and put into practice Christ’s words we are bathing in the Holy Spirit.  The inspired writers of the John gospel tell us that Christ’s words are living waters that satisfy our spiritual thirst by filling our hearts with the Holy Spirit. 

It is through the power of the Spirit, Christ is alive in the hearts of those who live his words!  Then, all Christians together, Jew or gentile, man or woman, free man or slave, in union with Christ become what the Apostle Paul calls the body of Christ.  As one body we all share in the mission of Christ in the world.

In the Mark gospel we are told that together with Christ we are the one loaf that is blessed and broken, for we have become the word and bread we have consumed.  The acceptance of being broken is the tough part; but there is no other way to feed the other unless we give of ourselves in and with Christ.

A few weeks ago Judy and I watched a DVD she had ordered from Netflix. It was a French film in black and white with captions in English.  The film came out in 1987 and was directed by Louis Malle [Louie Mall].  The title of the movie in English was ‘Goodbye Children,’ however after watching the film I realized the title really was to be understood as ‘Goodbye Childhood.’  

The basis of the film was what Louis Malle experienced when he was eleven years old while he was attending a Provincial Catholic Boarding school on the grounds of a Carmelite monastery during the German occupation of France. It was 1944.  When France was liberated in December of that year the children had been pushed out of their childhood into adulthood.

The film begins with the children returning from their wealthy French families after Christmas vacation to the boarding school.  Soon after, Fr. Jacob the Carmelite priest at the school introduces three new pupils to the boys.  The boys are unaware that the three new students are Jews, that Fr. Jacob is the leader within the faculty who are joined to an underground network of Christians across France to save the Jews.

Fr. Jacob has given the three boys gentile names hoping that he can keep them hidden and alive until the Germans are pushed out of France.  A few months now pass with the three new boys fitting in rather well.  A classmate from the school, Julien, befriends one of the Jewish boys.  A few things unexpectedly happen, including Julien hearing his friend praying in Hebrew one evening.  (The Jewish boys do everything the Catholic boys are doing, including going to Mass.)  

The school has a parent day in the fall at which Fr. Jacob gives a homily on social justice directed toward the rich parents attending Mass with their boys.  The three Jewish boys are in attendance by themselves.  The friend of Julien is moved by the Priest’s words (from the spoken Word) and enters the line with the Catholics to receive communion.  Julien is next to him as the Jewish boy sticks out his tongue waiting for the priest to place a host on it.

I am as intent on seeing what happens as is Fr. Jacob, Julien and the young Jewish boy.  (The Jewish boy has a different understanding now of why Fr. Jacob and other Christians are risking their lives for the Jews…at any time Fr. Jacob could literally become ‘bread broken’ for him…taken and killed by the Germans by hiding him.  

Fr. Jacob does not place the host on his tongue, but his mere presence to the Jewish boy is bread blessed and broken. The boy seems a bit surprised not have received the host but peaceful in his presence among these Christians. There is a moment of quiet as the priest moves on to Julien who will only later become aware of what has really happened.  Julian, however, is now aware that not only is the boy is a Jew, but that Fr. Jacob is well aware of it.

Another icon of the Church in the world that you are probably not aware of might now become apparent to you as the season of Advent is about to end: the Christ child in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.  For the strips of linen are burial attire—As Church we are the Suffering Servant and Lamb of God to which we show our gratitude believing through the sacraments of Christ’s words and actions that our sins have been forgiven…and our responsibility to also forgive the contrite of heart. The manger is a feeding trough.  Blessed, we gather together in thanksgiving each week to consume the essence in the Liturgy of the word and Eucharist with conviction to become the bread we eat.

A kitchen worker is fired by Fr. Jacob, after the priest becomes aware that the worker was selling some of their food in the black-market. (Those watching the film can sense a coming betrayal.) The Germans have somehow become aware of the three additional students in the school.  Julien had seen his friend’s name partially erased from the inside cover of one of the books that he had brought with him. When one of the German’s asked for that person to stand, Julien glanced at his friend.  The German had noticed what he had done.

Later, the courtyard was filled with the boys standing in lines facing the Germans, who take with them their Science teacher and his family, Fr. Jacob and the three boys who are Jews.  The boarding school boys tearfully called after Fr. Jacob, ‘Goodbye Fr. Jacob.’  Fr. Jacob calls back to them, ‘Goodbye Children.’ 

The children had been pulled from childhood into adulthood in the tragic awakening of man’s inhumanity toward one of their teachers and his family, their priest and three of their classmates.  Later they would come to know what it means to become the Bread we eat…It is in dying to self by showing goodness and justice to others that one is born to eternal life.

The Science teacher and his family and the three boys were gassed to death upon arriving at Auschwitz.   Fr. Jacob was sent to a concentration camp in Austria where a few months later he died after the Americans forces had taken control of the camp.

When we see some of the children of this community wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger on Christmas Eve, recall the significance of what that represents: We have been baptized in the Holy Spirit to be Word and Bread, blessed and broken.

Picture 1:    The Team, John, Mike, & Kevin

Picture 2:    Ryan lights the candles with Jim & Michelle, his dad & mom 

Picture 3:    Penitential Rite, people, "Please forgive me."  Jan & Charlie

Picture 4:    Penitential Rite, minister, "I forgive you.  I accept you. Peace." Mabel & Mike

Picture 5:    Cole with his mom & dad, Erin & Chuck

Picture 6:    Sean 

Picture 7:    Emma

Picture 8:    The Gang, Judy, Marilyn, Chuck, Sandra, & Geri

 

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 21-23,  All things are vanity.

Psalm 90,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Colossians 3, 1-5, 9-11  Seek what is above.

Luke 12, 13-21, You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.

 

 

Ecclesiastes Observations: 

Author:  unknown.   A belief was that it was Solomon

Date: 
 250-150 years before Christ.

Subject: 
the work is a putting together of a lot of folk sayings and life
observations which represent wisdom sometimes, sometimes not.  For instance, today’s selection. 

Today: 
pretty pessimistic.  It says that
everything is vanity. 

 

Colossians
observations:  We are done with this work for now,
fortunately.

Best line of
the Day: check the Psalm, the 4^th stanza, “Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”  This has been my experience the past week in
Iowa.  More in the homily.

 

Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness

Fill me
at daybreak with your kindness, that I may shout for joy and gladness. 
This was Iowa, folks. 

If you
don’t know what this is all about it is this. 
Sunday, July 21^st, Chris and I set out on our bikes with an
estimated crowd at times of 35,000 riders. 
We departed the west side if Iowa at the Missouri River and finished at
the east side and the Mississippi River 7 days later, Saturday. 

The
whole experience really touched my spirit, but let me single out three special
events, hospitality, trust, and beauty.

First, hospitalty.  Most of
the nights on the ride my team, Spokes of Hope, a cancer support team from
Indianapolis, found homes at which we could set up tents in the yard.  This was a little more private.

 

One
family in Oskaloosa, the next to the last night, knocked me out.  They had a nice big 5-9 acre lot with two
houses for the family.  They hosted about
80 people, Spokes of Hope and Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s former cancer
program. 

When we
arrived they had spread out on their deck chips and dip and drinks.  At 5:00 they themselves served us all an
enormous dinner.  The next morning they
sent us on our way with a great breakfast. 
All gratis, no charge.   Hospitality.

In Des
Moines a widow of about 6 months invited our 14 member team into her nice
house.  She is a doctor and teaches at
the local medical school.

She,
also, fixed us all a big dinner and a big breakfast.  She sent us on our way with a few dozen
chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  The
Indianapolis folks are probably still eating those cookies.   All
gratis, no charge.  Hospitality.

Next, trust.  Never did I fear my bike would be
stolen.  In the small towns where it was
impossible to ride because of the mass of people, bikes were dropped
everywhere.  In fact, the problem was
remembering, “Wow, where is my bike?”

One
afternoon I rode up to a Tom Thumb type grocery store that had an $8 all you
can eat pasta & dessert sale.  This
was in the last overnight town on the road, Fairfield.  I remember hesitating at first.  My bike. 
Lots of people around.  Plus lots
of bikes.  I left my bike with my helmet & gloves hanging from the handlebar.  An hour
later it was right there along with all the other bikes & bikers.  The trust, everywhere.

Finally,
the beauty.   Don’t believe the idea that Iowa is flat.  It is not mountainous, okay.  It is hilly. 
This trip had lots of hills and lots of scenic vistas, plus beautiful little towns.  Once
I must confess at the end of a day 110 miles long I had to walk a hill, my
thigh muscles saying they just might like to cramp.   I learned prudence from Rosemary.

There
were a number of occasions when the hospitality, the trust, and the beauty, to
not even mention my gratitude at being able to do this, just touched me to
tears as I rode peacefully along.  Which
made me say to myself, “Watch out, man, you can’t see and you will crash.”

This is
the psalm line exemplified, “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we
may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”

How is
it for you?