A Very Good Day

  Saturday, November 17-- one of those days I was glad to say I am going to get some much needed R and R. Wet and windy outside.

Dry and cozy inside.
 I am no Superperson, that is for sure, going like so many folks have to do, five to seven days a week, from "It is much too dark in the morning" to I am not too numb to care at night. Working two days a week, eight hours a day as a hospital chaplain like I do would, if she/he made enough to cover home, food, safety, insurance, travel, clothing, and entertainment, would delight a whole lot of folks.
   My salary does not cover the best of what I listed. All I can say is one day as a chaplain puts me emotionally away for another day. Those who know me would say that is because I put my whole self into listening and feeling. 
    I have four positive things to say about my ministry at the hospital.  First, I am very, very pleased to have  a position that requires that I give all that I have to offer emotionally and mentally. Second, I am humbled to be able to support patients and their families during some very hard times. Third, I am so pleased to work in a situation where I feel known, accepted, and cared for. Four, I am so pleased to be a member of a team, the pastoral care team, where I feel affirmed, listened to, and challenged to be a sensitive and compassionate human being.
       So this evening I am so happy... lots of quiet time, some great phone conversations with friends, and  I
 am so grateful that I did not have to hit the asphalt and keep my eyes on the cars in front of me or behind me. I give the folks out there working and shopping and playing and praying all the credit. I am so glad I was not one of them.

A Birthday Gift

Friday, September 9, is my birthday. I had the privilege of leading my religious community in prayer today, the eight. Fifty years ago, on September 7, I first joined the Society of Jesus. Since I entered, Malcolm X, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy have been cruelly killed.
In one of my classes I had the opportunity to meet Huey Newton. While I worked at Seattle University I attended a lecture given by Elridge Cleaver. I have visited the grave of Frederick Douglass. I have spoken to FBI men following an arson fire in Tacoma, Washington. I was targeted in Tacoma by a local hate group.
I have attended the funerals of my grandmother, uncle, stepfather, mother, and three of my closest women friends.
I have begun to consider my own dying. And this evening I had an opportunity,at the Mass, to talk about my wonderful grandmother. She wanted to be a nun, was sold to an African American minister who married her. She got away from him, married again, was abandoned by her husband. She and my mother took care of me and made sure I got to attend a very good high school and college.
I highlighted my grandmother's courage, prayerfulness, commitment to service, and love for God and all people.
She and my mother taught me how to love deeply and persistently. What a great gift they are to me.

Sunny Summer Afternoon

School is over. Teachers getting their grades in. Students who are choosing to clear and clean and attend to various parts of the school during the summer take time on this sunny day to eat and talk.

Lots of life happening here this quiet day.

Teachers will be getting ready for next year. Young folks will be working and, hopefully, enjoying friends and families.

Summer school will be starting soon.

Game Time

I have always loved basketball. From the time I was a chubby grade schooler who always sat on the bench to the wonderful days in Sheridan, Oregon, when I used to play passing guard with other young mean training to become Jesuits. My greatest moment... being applauded by Bellarmine High School students here when I tried to make a jump shot from the right side and missed to that low moment in Spokane when I faced off against a young man, ten years my senior, a foot taller than I, who just plouged over me and quickly ended our one on one game, 12 to nothing.

Last night I enjoyed being with parents and other teachers at the Bellarmine's women's high school basketball team fought its way to a very tough victory... lots of defense, Bellarmne High and Olympia High folks going head to head in a game where the score doesn't reflect the tremendous defense, the passing and running and cool headed free throwing of both teams.

Thoughtful, fast moving, and sweet shooting game. I loved it...

Life Wonderfully Goes On

I celebrate the love and dedication of parents and laborers, the openness and high energy of all students, the commitment to service of teachers, administrators, and maintenace folks who keep our educational institutions humming along...sunshine, rain, cold, fog... thank you for choosing to live in the moment.



Thank you for choosing this day to share yourself with other people!

Ummm! Hah!

Hot dusty days... and here's those tools... digging and shoving and pushing... all in the name of Self Directing: taking responsibility for making things happen in one's own life for one's own well being
I remember those late teenage years when I got out there, working as a swamper on a St. Vincent de Paul Truck back in the fifties...getting to work at 7:30 am in the morning, pushing, pulling, and shoving at boxes and various kitchent utensils...
First week I was working, I was sure I was not going to make it... dropping things, pushing on a stove or a refrigerator and not getting the item to budge...
After one month I knew I could handle any challenge the truck driver threw at me... I can remember him smiling at the end of the second month..."you're learning, son, "you're learning..." I wonder what thoughts were racing through the young woman's mind in this picture... easier, happier times... hard times ahead, friends and family... or just: "I am going to make this work right now!"

Moments I recall from every summer... that first paycheck and I knew I had sweat blood to earn every cent... and saying goodbye at the end of the summer... feeling both relieved and sad...
I gave the work my best shot and I knew I had hung in there through a very long, hot, and exhausting summer...I congratulate my friend, M--t, for getting up every day and giving this tough task of replacing the old wooden steps going down Bellarmine Prep's Hill with new ones... M--t, you are A Okay with me!!!!!

Let's give every hard worker you and I know a big hand...