Day 4 of 4

Hmmm, where should I start today? The last three days have been focused on some big ticket items which obviously deserved attention first. The tapestry of life is woven from many threads even if the main images are few in number. I am grateful for all of the other threads which represent all the friends, co-workers, and all of other people I encounter regularly in the march of days.


I am particularly grateful to discover that while we move through life in linear fashion from beginning to end, stages of life tend to run in circles. Dear friends and family members from my earliest years who seem to have been left behind at some other point are suddenly back in my life. It is their return that has returned to tint of forgotten color to today’s portrait. I don’t have the words so I will say welcome back. You were missed.


I am grateful for the Cursillo movement and how living in the Fourth day has immeasurably enriched my life. I am surrounded by men and women who have redirected their orientation toward God and we all live to support, strengthen and pray for each other. Greg Hanchett, Ken Jeschke, Rick Hays, Rick Ahmann, Chris Curtis, Paul Baker, Dennis O’Reilly, Andy Nickol, Oliver Yuhas, Dan O’Brien, Jim McConnell and so on are just few of those whom I call brother. For them, and all the others, I am deeply thankful. They have walked with me as my thirst for learning about our faith has been kindled and now burst into flame. Thank you to all of you for giving me an audience and support to pursue a course I believe I was always meant to follow.


Finally, I am grateful that I have been granted the ability to appreciate the little things in life. To be able to stop and just gaze at a sliver of orange tinted clouds on the morning horizon or to be able to watch a full moon burst up over the south hills and shine its cold light down on my yard is a miracle to me. I also love to see and hear birds that come to my waterfall and fountain to drink and splash around in play, to watch the deer lying peacefully beneath the hedge bordering my front yard and to smile at the rabbits playing in the grass and then hiding in the juniper shrubs when danger passes. These all bring me delight and appreciation.


Life as a Benedictine Oblate has slowed down the pace of my life that I might let time slow and silence grow and those spaces Celtic spirit has nourished an understanding of God’s presence not just everywhere but in the earth, water, sky and sun which from our human life emerged. For things I am also grateful.

Finally, to stand knee deep in a cold river and casting a fly to place where I hope a fish might right rise is how a loving God has chosen to reveal to me many of the mysteries of life, the most important of which is why I am here. I am not only grateful for this, I am at peace.


Day 4 of 4. There is much left unsaid,