I watched a 2-hr movie online this week, Conclave. It's fiction of course, kind of like The DaVinci Code, in the thinking----well, it could be real or semi-real. It's on Peacock (NBC streaming) and very enjoyable, albeit fiction! Enjoy...
Here's my cardinal friend, now trusting enough to sit right outside my window on the nearest tree, just waiting to come over for some food, while also fending off others!
Well, we came out the other end of a recording-setting lake effect storm. Where we live, the northwest corner of Harborcreek Township, about 7 miles from the center of Erie, we received 58" give or take!!
One of the eeriest things about it for me was watching TV programs from around the country where the weather was warm and sunny or at least not snowy. It's really surreal to see the extreme difference when you're sitting in the middle of an extreme weather moment yourself!
Here's another and hopefully final look at some of our recent reality!
Late October 2024: How to be interviewed by CNN, The Washington Post, etc? Be accused of voter fraud by a nationally known conservative blogger.
Late November 2024: How to be on The Weather Channel and have one of their meteorologists in town for the weekend? Live in Erie, PA. amidst 45.2"....so far.
We have lots of guests/visitors this month. I don't know if they are here because they want to get in some time before the holidays or the weather can interfere with travel plans or if it's just the time of year when they need some reflection days or, possibly, maybe they just decided to come--and they came.
Whatever, one of the guests is wearing a hair extension on the top of her otherwise grey hair. The extension is grey, too, but its pieces are thicker than hair, more like a decorative mop. It looks nice on her, attractive in a creative, unusual way. She reminds me of how much I enjoy quirky guests. Probably because most of us aren't.
I am reading Louise Penney's latest (#19) Detective Armand Gamache mystery, Grey Wolf. In it she returns this story to the island monastery from an earlier book. Everything about this place is unique, including the almost total lack of visitors. The story and Penney's writing talent is terrific, of course. Maybe the visitors' issue in it is what's making me more aware of our own visitors these weeks. Lucky us!
We are talking and reading a lot these days about hope, both personally and nationally. Here are three recent things I saw that help feed my hope.
A sunrise--photo taken right from the little patio
at the end of our residence wing last weekend.
At the end of this week we will celebrate Mary Lou Kownacki's new book, Everyday Sacred, Everywhere Beauty, (Orbis) a selection of her best blog posts. Here's an excerpt of one from November 2016. It's eerie how true it rings, eight years later.
God is trusting in us
November 9, 2016
When I awake each day I say a short prayer.
This morning I had to force every ounce of integrity to pray it. I am heartsick over last night’s national election, in anguish for what this mean-spirited political view will mean for the poor, for women, for refugees, for the sick, for all the vulnerable. I am frightened of what military force we will unleash around the world without an ounce of concern for the unarmed civilians in its wake. And I am fearful that what we really woke up to this morning is the unraveling of the American dream, a country sharply, irrevocably divided about what the Constitution, freedom of press, the Statue of Liberty, and democracy itself mean.
I am also appalled at the misogyny at the base of this election and angry at my church for its deafening silence over a presidential candidate who is disgusting in his treatment of women. But, then, my church is misogynistic, too, and, yes, disgusting in its treatment of women.
I am also bewildered by my own lack of perception. Who are these people who voted for Trump? Who are these neighbors, board members, co-workers, people that I celebrate weekly liturgy with at the monastery, that I thought I knew? And even liked and considered friends? How did I not know what they really believed and valued? My relationship with them is forever altered and it breaks my heart.
So, it was in deep agony, almost disbelief, that Old Monk forced herself to pray: This is the day our God has made. Let us be rejoice and be glad.––Psalm 118:24
November 17, 2016
Lots of people commented on the last journal entry. Many of you suggested praying and trusting in God. Prayer––yes, of course. I’ve devoted a lot of years to prayer. And so what? For me, there is only one measure for authentic prayer: am I becoming kinder, more tolerant, more courageous, more god-like? I pray to change myself and you can see that’s taking quite a long time. I do not pray to change other people, life’s circumstances, world events or the future.
As I get older, I have a private measuring stick for my own spiritual integrity—do I speak my truth without fear and act on what I believe? That’s all I pray for these days. Of course, I’d like to do it with all the kindness I can muster, but my bottom line is speaking truth to power. It’s the one irrevocable lesson I’ve learned from getting to know Jesus of Nazareth.
As for trusting in God, I think it’s the reverse. I believe God is trusting in us. God is trusting that in giving us the gift of life, we will bear good fruit. That we who claim to be on a spiritual path will accept our responsibility to co-create the kind of world that God envisioned. It’s up to us, each one of us, to be faithful to God’s trust and do everything in our power to bring in the day when “justice and mercy embrace.”
Last week we continued to have "interest" from media outlets. Reuters came and interviewed for a story and ABC posted an interview from their time here. See it here This is the URL, if needed:
abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/Nuns-fight-back-false-fraud-allegations-115335038
Meanwhile, life (tries) to go on, highlighted by more beautiful fall weather, mostly mild with colorful scenes throughout our area.
And right in our backyard, our larch is orange again and displaying its unique fruit orbs.
