Spring Equinox

This is one of those poems by Mary Oliver where she combines her love of nature with the spirituality that she so often expresses so beautifully in her writing. Appropriate this year, as the first day of spring is close to Holy Week. 

Spring

Faith
is the instructor.
We need no other.

Guess what I am,
he says in his
incomparably lovely

young-man voice.
Because I love the world
I think of grass,

I think of leaves
and the bold sun,
I think of the rushes

in the black marshes
just coming back
from under the pure white

and now finally melting
stubs of snow.
Whatever we know or don't know

leads us to say:
Teacher, what do you mean?
But faith is still there, and silent.

Then he who owns
the incomparable voice
suddenly flows upward

and out of the room
and I follow,
obedient and happy.

Of course I am thinking
the Lord was once young
and will never in fact be old.

And who else could this be, who goes off
down the green path,
carrying his sandals, and singing?

The Annual Trifecta is Coming

 A female cardinal that's been frequenting my feeders lately.

So far during six days in early March we've had more snow in those days (6.3") than we had in January and February combined! What a crazy winter this has been. Every time you see a storm on the Weather Channel crossing the country in the upper Midwest you can be sure that it will either hit us (which it hasn't lately) or be pushed by the winds, usually north and east of us. Unfortunately that theory doesn't seem to work as well for Buffalo, as they are currently in first place in the Golden Snowglobe contest which keeps track of the winter snowfall for cities with populations over 100,000.  See the latest here.

Tonight we had a treat: Girl Scout cookies, though we only had four of the 13 listed kinds: thin mints, peanut butter tagalongs, trefoils and samoas. Delicious!

Otherwise things are pretty "every day" around here. Next weekend the pace will pick up a bit as the annual trifecta of March saints will be upon us--and a weekend on top of that: Patrick (17), Joseph (19) and Benedict (21).  We celebrate all of them in some way or another....maybe even with some green beer on the first.

March honors women

Our annual Women's Art Show opened this weekend. If you're local, stop out sometime in the next 5-6 weeks, it's a lovely show this year...."eclectic" the organizer called it!

The west end of the ch. 57 gallery.

The east end.

Sister Valerie's original cross stitch of our stained glass windows. 

My cross stitch of mason jars and wild flowers.

The ice floes that accumulate along our shoreline, down on the Glinodo side 

of our property...but not this year, the lake never froze over for very long.

Anniversaries

I know I've used this before, but I don't care. I love it. And I'm all for "sharing our Catholic devotions" with those who haven't had the pleasure! One of those "pleasures" for many Christians, is Ash Wednesday. So what did yours look like last week?!

Throughout the month of February a few of my friends and I have noted a number of anniversaries---anniversaries of our parents' passing from this life to the next. Many of us keep track of these dates, primarily through the funeral home death cards we receive. It's a casual, yet very meaningful experience for us to note these annual death anniversaries. It almost always leads to some storytelling of the parent remembered, and since we didn't grow up together here in Erie, we didn't know each others parents, especially when they were young and "parenting." It's really a very touching and special time to hear about them in that way: what a father brought home from work for the kids, what a mother did to celebrate birthdays---or to hear about family vacations, trips to relatives, etc. because this is the background of the friends we have now, what helped form them into the people we met when we were already all grown up. It's a lovely sharing.

Book report

 

I'm having an experience with a book (Paschal Paradox: reflections on a life of spiritual evolution) that I have never had with any book I've read: I finished it and immediately started it all over again! It's all about an evolutionary view of life, the planet, the past, present and future and how human beings' obsession with control and power is almost laughable...note the COVID experience and how we all went around saying things like, "Well, I guess we can tell who/what's really in control and it's not us"!

It is so great and I want a better chance to remember its messages and ideas better.  

Here is an excerpt that might give you an idea of one of its subjects--institutional religions:

"The early decades of the 21st c., what we are now witnessing, is not merely a set of sexual deviations, linked to a gross abuse of clerical power. It is the crucifixion of clericalism itself throughout the Catholic Church, a dark night of excruciating pain....

"The Church of the people of God will rise from the proverbial ashes, and no doubt God will visit and empower the people once more...

"I wager my faith that this new breakthrough will honor the ground-up faith long known to the Catholic people of God, who will rediscover the empowerment of the reign of God, not in a church cut off from the world, but in faith communities deeply grounded in nature itself. In our dream to save the world, we will discover anew the unconditional love of God calling us to be God's people walking our earthly pathway of grace and beauty."

Super "Super" weekend

 

In between our favorite college women's basketball games, all of our regular weekend prayer and liturgy, and, of course the Super Bowl, we did manage this weekend to get in a couple winter walks--as the temperatures here have touched the "moderate" range (which means 45-60) this week.

Lake Erie is totally open, no ice in sight anywhere...at least off of our shore. And a winter walk along the creek path brought this stunning view of one of our waterfalls--with strong flowing water over its entire width. We saw signs of fisherfolk all along the path, too, so I guess they're having some success with winter fishing. 

Congratulations to all the Kansas City and Philly fans...one kick in the last 10 seconds, by the team that last has the ball, and KC did it perfectly. Hopefully we'll see them both back again next year.

Getting through those dark, cold winter days!

 Today I'm going to share two marvelous ways we're getting through the heart of winter here in the Great Lakes---Lake Erie---region.

#1. The author Elizabeth Strout won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, Olive Kitteridge, stories of a quirky, outspoken, New Englander and her small town and the interactions she has with the people and the events therein. Now there is a mini-series, four one-hour movies based on the book. You know how when you see a movie after reading the book it often doesn't seem to measure up to the characters and settings you "saw" all through the book as you read it? Well, this one is the exception--it is just as good as the book or, you might say, presents a fitting visual of what the reader first experienced. A wonderful, memorable story of life and relationships and "just getting by" the best you can. It is streaming on HBO MAX, though we got our copy from our local library. And, if Elizabeth Strout is new to you, you're in for a real treat...she has about 8-10 books, all exceptional.

#2. Most of us read Louise Penny's latest book,  A World of Curiosities. And even though it's her 17th or 18th Armand Gamache tale, we weren't disappointed, as she has a unique talent for fresh stories and adventures for her hero-detective and the delightful cast of characters that come and go throughout each book. A few years ago a movie was made, I think in Germany, of her first book, Still Life, and much to our delight there is now a mini-series of 8 stories from the other books. The title is Three Pines and they, too, can be found streaming, on Amazon Prime. We'll be starting them soon. Enjoy!