I don't remember 4 days worth of events surrounding President Bush's inaugurations, or even President Clinton's inaugurations. Then again I normally don't pay attention to the Inauguration, but this time I have no choice it's all that's on the news. Today we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. however I can't help but think that while he would be pleased to see an African American elected as President, he would not be happy with Obama's pro-abortion stance. Obama as a person does not scare me, the idea that he would promise a "freedom of choice" which has no choice in it. FOCA is a load of crap full of evil. By chance and more likely by "order" the deacons at my parish preached on FOCA this weekend. Now I've heard rumors that FOCA doesn't have enough votes to be passed, but I feel like Obama will find a way to have it pass.
Oh well time for lunch, then I shall return
Monday, January 19, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus 1936-2009
It has been brought to my attention that Fr. Neuhaus passed away this morning shortly before 10AM this morning. May he rest in peace.
Eternal Rest grant unto him O Lord,
Let perpetual light shine upon him,
May his soul and souls the faithfully departed rest in the Mercy of Christ.
Amen.
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5312
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14710
I always enjoyed him comments on EWTN, especially during the election of Benedict and during Benedict's trip to the US. His comments will be missed, but he leaves many works behind to help educate us.
Eternal Rest grant unto him O Lord,
Let perpetual light shine upon him,
May his soul and souls the faithfully departed rest in the Mercy of Christ.
Amen.
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5312
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14710
I always enjoyed him comments on EWTN, especially during the election of Benedict and during Benedict's trip to the US. His comments will be missed, but he leaves many works behind to help educate us.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Christmas and the Feast of the Holy Family
A few weeks back my parish was greeted with the news that our pastor is being transferred to another parish as of Feb. 2nd. Considering that when the 6 year mark came up and Fr. George heard nothing we all assumed, including Fr. George, that we would have him for another 6 years. Alas the good Bishop said move and Fr. George as he has throughout his priesthood said, yes. We're losing a great pastor and priest, but as he says one never truly leaves as we'll be in his prayers and he hopes we continue to pray for him.
Anyway, this news added a certain twist to Christmas this year. For me Christmas just didn't seem like Christmas, I wasn't into it as I normally would. Granted getting sick with a stomach bug on the 23rd didn't help matters. As a result my mom didn't have her actual presents just some silly gifts as I call them, usable gifts, but not her actual gifts. I don't know it just didn't seem like Christmas.
Typical of myself I sign up to serve at Extraordinary Minister at the 4:15pm Mass, our overflow Mass for the 4pm in the actual Church and as EM at the 10:30 for the Choir. Fr. Brian likes to call the 4:15 the "no room at the inn Mass." I had a feeling that since this would be the last time Fr. George would be able to say the "gym Mass" that he would have be saying it. I got to hear his homily twice as my family goes to our "Midnight Mass" at 10:30pm, and as pastor, Fr. George had main celebrant rights. One of these days I'll get back to an actual Midnight Mass at midnight.
Fr. George's homily had a visual aid this year, a signing statue of the Grinch from Dr. Suess' How the Grinch stole Christmas. The homily started out with Fr. George telling us about his 7th grade CCD class and him trying to think of a way to do something special for Christmas, so they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, his favorite Movie and out came the Grinch who is a special one, he happens to dance to "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch." Now that Fr. George had everyone's attention he got into the meat and potatoes of his homily. He spoke of the different "grinches" we have in life, with the 3 main ones being greed, violence, and secularism. Each grinch had a person in the Nativity scene to look up to and try to change, as we're called to bring the Grinch to Christ. The first was to bring the Grinch of greed to Mary, as our Blessed Mother gave all that she could, especially with her yes to be God's mother. The next was the Grinch of Violence was to look to St. Joseph has he wanted no violence against Mary when she was found with child. The Grinch of Secularism was to be shown the shepherds and 3 Kings as these men gave what they could to God and brought Him to others.
Fr. George spoke about having sorrows in our lives and that they might not make Christmas happy, but that Christ is the light in the darkness. Overall it was a good homily and he spoke slightly longer at the "Midnight" Mass than at the 4:15 but over all the basic idea was that we are to bring the Grinch and others to Christ. That the Christ-child came for us and that we are to bring Him to others with our actions and lives.
So that was Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family was an exciting day at the parish. As I was getting ready to go to Mass my mom calmly mentions that "Mass is in the gym." WHAT WHY? was my reaction, seeing as I only do "gym Masses" for the High Holy days of Christmas and Easter, I don't like not being in the actual Church. I got the short version of the story from my mom...
"Fr. Brian heard a pop while saying the Gospel" and then someone said fire, so Masses were moved to the gym. You'll probably get the story over there." I said ok, I'll probably will. So the story as told by Fr. George during his homily that Sunday was this...
As is Fr. George's custom he was in the church to greet the people going to the 7am Mass, he and Fr. Brian noticed that the bells weren't working so Fr. George said, I know how to fix this, I'll just reboot the system. Fr. George rebooted the system and said, oh good no more problems today. 10 minutes later as he was sitting in his office in the rectory he hears and sees Fr. Brian running through the rectory saying, I think he might have been shouting, "George there's a fire in the church." Now, the image of Fr. Brian in full vestments sprinting into the rectory is amusing and a few of smiled, but Fr. George added to it by saying that one of the parishioners swears they saw Fr. Brian hop the altar. So now I have an image of Fr. Brian in essence high jumping the altar in full vestments, I must say I did a good job of controlling my laughter, as it was a serious situation that we were talking about. What is believed to have happened is that while Fr. Brian was holding the Book of the Gospels he hear a pop from behind him and a few seconds later someone said "fire." We believe the pop was either the light on top of the manger exploding or something going wrong with the electrical wires on the Christmas trees.
Thankfully no one was hurt, Fr. Brian and a few of the parishioners (who happen to be firefighters) got the fire under control and some of the people at Mass thought to take the hand crafted Italian (read expensive) statues that make up the Nativity scene with them as they left. There was a fair bit of smoke damage done to the Church, she needs a paint job, but amazingly so that's all that got damaged, well and a Christmas tree, and the lamb statues each lost an ear but they were fixed and are now back in the Church.
Back about 12 years ago the church building was restored, well renovated and I remember Fr. Geno telling us that if "God forbid the church was to catch on fire it would be gone in a few minutes." I believe that was because of the "paint" that was used, as there was paper or something in it, anyway it's truly amazing that the church building only sustained smoke damage, it just looks dirty.
As was pointed out during Fr. George's homily the parish family came together quickly to help out and to adjust to what was happening that weekend. If the fire happened at any other time who knows what would have happened. The other Masses are usually packed, the 7am is our "no smells no bells" Mass, meaning it's the Mass without music on the weekend, so you never know what would have happened. As Fr. George said thank God it happened while someone was in the Church and thank God no one got hurt and that we have very little damage done to the Church.
Fr. George in his homily on the Feast of the Holy Family spoke of how we are family in many way, we have the human family that comes together when it needs to, with such examples of Sept. 11th and Hurricane Katrina and other such natural disasters, a parish family that came together in many ways this past year with our Jubilee celebration and with the fire, and of course we have our immediate families. In the shortest homily I have ever heard or seen Fr. George give, he got the message of yes we have our own families to care for, but there is much more to a family than that, we are a family as Children of God and we are called to care for each other.
Fr. George ended his homily by returning to his seat and telling us to mark our calendars as this was his shortest homily given.
This link shows the Beacon's story on us, the color pictures are better than the black and white ones. I didn't take any pictures of the Christmas altar this year, I will take some on Sunday when I am there and post them, but I think I might have one from last year if not I know I have the manger scene.
Anyway, this news added a certain twist to Christmas this year. For me Christmas just didn't seem like Christmas, I wasn't into it as I normally would. Granted getting sick with a stomach bug on the 23rd didn't help matters. As a result my mom didn't have her actual presents just some silly gifts as I call them, usable gifts, but not her actual gifts. I don't know it just didn't seem like Christmas.
Typical of myself I sign up to serve at Extraordinary Minister at the 4:15pm Mass, our overflow Mass for the 4pm in the actual Church and as EM at the 10:30 for the Choir. Fr. Brian likes to call the 4:15 the "no room at the inn Mass." I had a feeling that since this would be the last time Fr. George would be able to say the "gym Mass" that he would have be saying it. I got to hear his homily twice as my family goes to our "Midnight Mass" at 10:30pm, and as pastor, Fr. George had main celebrant rights. One of these days I'll get back to an actual Midnight Mass at midnight.
Fr. George's homily had a visual aid this year, a signing statue of the Grinch from Dr. Suess' How the Grinch stole Christmas. The homily started out with Fr. George telling us about his 7th grade CCD class and him trying to think of a way to do something special for Christmas, so they watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, his favorite Movie and out came the Grinch who is a special one, he happens to dance to "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch." Now that Fr. George had everyone's attention he got into the meat and potatoes of his homily. He spoke of the different "grinches" we have in life, with the 3 main ones being greed, violence, and secularism. Each grinch had a person in the Nativity scene to look up to and try to change, as we're called to bring the Grinch to Christ. The first was to bring the Grinch of greed to Mary, as our Blessed Mother gave all that she could, especially with her yes to be God's mother. The next was the Grinch of Violence was to look to St. Joseph has he wanted no violence against Mary when she was found with child. The Grinch of Secularism was to be shown the shepherds and 3 Kings as these men gave what they could to God and brought Him to others.
Fr. George spoke about having sorrows in our lives and that they might not make Christmas happy, but that Christ is the light in the darkness. Overall it was a good homily and he spoke slightly longer at the "Midnight" Mass than at the 4:15 but over all the basic idea was that we are to bring the Grinch and others to Christ. That the Christ-child came for us and that we are to bring Him to others with our actions and lives.
So that was Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family was an exciting day at the parish. As I was getting ready to go to Mass my mom calmly mentions that "Mass is in the gym." WHAT WHY? was my reaction, seeing as I only do "gym Masses" for the High Holy days of Christmas and Easter, I don't like not being in the actual Church. I got the short version of the story from my mom...
"Fr. Brian heard a pop while saying the Gospel" and then someone said fire, so Masses were moved to the gym. You'll probably get the story over there." I said ok, I'll probably will. So the story as told by Fr. George during his homily that Sunday was this...
As is Fr. George's custom he was in the church to greet the people going to the 7am Mass, he and Fr. Brian noticed that the bells weren't working so Fr. George said, I know how to fix this, I'll just reboot the system. Fr. George rebooted the system and said, oh good no more problems today. 10 minutes later as he was sitting in his office in the rectory he hears and sees Fr. Brian running through the rectory saying, I think he might have been shouting, "George there's a fire in the church." Now, the image of Fr. Brian in full vestments sprinting into the rectory is amusing and a few of smiled, but Fr. George added to it by saying that one of the parishioners swears they saw Fr. Brian hop the altar. So now I have an image of Fr. Brian in essence high jumping the altar in full vestments, I must say I did a good job of controlling my laughter, as it was a serious situation that we were talking about. What is believed to have happened is that while Fr. Brian was holding the Book of the Gospels he hear a pop from behind him and a few seconds later someone said "fire." We believe the pop was either the light on top of the manger exploding or something going wrong with the electrical wires on the Christmas trees.
Thankfully no one was hurt, Fr. Brian and a few of the parishioners (who happen to be firefighters) got the fire under control and some of the people at Mass thought to take the hand crafted Italian (read expensive) statues that make up the Nativity scene with them as they left. There was a fair bit of smoke damage done to the Church, she needs a paint job, but amazingly so that's all that got damaged, well and a Christmas tree, and the lamb statues each lost an ear but they were fixed and are now back in the Church.
Back about 12 years ago the church building was restored, well renovated and I remember Fr. Geno telling us that if "God forbid the church was to catch on fire it would be gone in a few minutes." I believe that was because of the "paint" that was used, as there was paper or something in it, anyway it's truly amazing that the church building only sustained smoke damage, it just looks dirty.
As was pointed out during Fr. George's homily the parish family came together quickly to help out and to adjust to what was happening that weekend. If the fire happened at any other time who knows what would have happened. The other Masses are usually packed, the 7am is our "no smells no bells" Mass, meaning it's the Mass without music on the weekend, so you never know what would have happened. As Fr. George said thank God it happened while someone was in the Church and thank God no one got hurt and that we have very little damage done to the Church.
Fr. George in his homily on the Feast of the Holy Family spoke of how we are family in many way, we have the human family that comes together when it needs to, with such examples of Sept. 11th and Hurricane Katrina and other such natural disasters, a parish family that came together in many ways this past year with our Jubilee celebration and with the fire, and of course we have our immediate families. In the shortest homily I have ever heard or seen Fr. George give, he got the message of yes we have our own families to care for, but there is much more to a family than that, we are a family as Children of God and we are called to care for each other.
Fr. George ended his homily by returning to his seat and telling us to mark our calendars as this was his shortest homily given.
This link shows the Beacon's story on us, the color pictures are better than the black and white ones. I didn't take any pictures of the Christmas altar this year, I will take some on Sunday when I am there and post them, but I think I might have one from last year if not I know I have the manger scene.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas
Merry Christmas, Happy St. Stephen's Day or Boxing Day, Happy Feast of the Holy Family!
I'll be blogging about the Christmas homily (I heard the same one twice) later on!
I'll be blogging about the Christmas homily (I heard the same one twice) later on!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Real Men wear pink
That's what Fr. Brian told us at Mass today, and I couldn't help but laugh as I hear a comment along those lines almost every time a priest wears his "pink" or rose vestments. We had a member of the Salesian sisters talk to us today about the retirement fund collection. For a woman asking for money, she was quite entertaining and I was disappointed in myself that I had left my envelops (for the parish and the retirement fund) at home, but I'll drop them in the basket next week. Sister spoke after Fr. Brian gave us a short homily, not his shortest as that was his Exaltation of the Cross homily, none the less his homily was good as usual. I don't remember all of it as I suffered trough Bible study right after. Normally one doesn't expect to hear suffer and Bible Study in the same sentence, but alas for me the Bible study I was supposed to help run, has now become some time for me to the classic "offer it up" prayer of a Catholic.
Anyway back to Fr. Brian's homily, he spoke if his annual trip to the local mall, Garden State Plaza, and how how felt "loved" and "needed" as he past by the kiosks in the mall hallways. I almost asked him if he was in uniform aka wearing his collar, I was close, but not close enough to actually ask him, nor do I have the guts to ask a question in the middle of one's homily. I take it that he wasn't in his collar, because he pointed out that as a woman at one of the kiosks said to him something along these lines, "you're handsome, would you let me exfoliate your head." Fr. Brian's response was "for goodness sakes leave me alone I'm a priest." The woman's comment is made funnier as Fr. Brian is bald. Fr. Brian continued to point out some of the things he saw or heard at the mall, and the young man behind me and I were laughing because he works at said mall and I worked at the mall, so we knew all too well as did most of the people in the Church what Fr. Brian was talking about.
Fr. Brian pointed out that these people will only "love" us until the 25th but that God will and does love us long beyond that. That was the basic point of his homily, that God loves no matter what. I don't want to confuse what Fr. Brian said with what was said in Bible study, so I'm going to stop there as mentioning Bible study will set me off on a rant.
Anyway back to Fr. Brian's homily, he spoke if his annual trip to the local mall, Garden State Plaza, and how how felt "loved" and "needed" as he past by the kiosks in the mall hallways. I almost asked him if he was in uniform aka wearing his collar, I was close, but not close enough to actually ask him, nor do I have the guts to ask a question in the middle of one's homily. I take it that he wasn't in his collar, because he pointed out that as a woman at one of the kiosks said to him something along these lines, "you're handsome, would you let me exfoliate your head." Fr. Brian's response was "for goodness sakes leave me alone I'm a priest." The woman's comment is made funnier as Fr. Brian is bald. Fr. Brian continued to point out some of the things he saw or heard at the mall, and the young man behind me and I were laughing because he works at said mall and I worked at the mall, so we knew all too well as did most of the people in the Church what Fr. Brian was talking about.
Fr. Brian pointed out that these people will only "love" us until the 25th but that God will and does love us long beyond that. That was the basic point of his homily, that God loves no matter what. I don't want to confuse what Fr. Brian said with what was said in Bible study, so I'm going to stop there as mentioning Bible study will set me off on a rant.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
When I get into something I really get into it *updated*
So I literally spent the last week reading the Twilight Series books. Normally I wouldn't even think to pick up these books, but my friend, Bridget's niece read them and told her to read them and as a result I was told to read them so I did.
I have yet to see the movie, so I can only comment on the books right now, and from what I have seen with the trailers for the movie, the book is better, as is usually the case. Now I've heard both good things and bad things about the books so I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew something must be good if Bridget was after me to read them.
Yes it's about vampires and other mythical creatures but if you get beyond that; you can see series of books with a great message. The woman who wrote the books is a Mormon so at first you wonder how she could write a book involving "evil" creatures such as vampires. Stephenie Meyer has written a book for teens that they love with a "save sex" til marriage message.
Maybe it's because I'm a girl and yes the book is geared toward teenage girls, but I found myself having played the part of the main character, Bella, in my own life, and if I can I assume many other girls have too. Seeing a guy, falling in love, (though mine wasn't true love as I'm not married yet), wanting to be with said guy.
The movie as I expected was good but no where near as good as the book.
Also, when I comment else where that I am a 29 year old who and read the books vs. a teen who has read them, I don't need to get comments that say "well most of them haven't read good literature, so very average literature appeals to them... no offense" As a person who went through Catholic grammar and Public high school and I say easily that it wasn't until I met my friend Bridget that I started reading CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and many others, so I trust her opinion on books. She got the better education, she was home schooled I suffered through a Holocaust book a year in high school along with other books, never once did we read Narnia, or Lord of the Rings, which is we wanted a taste of good literature is what we should have been reading.
The person who posted that comment may not have meant any offense, but really if you have to start or defend yourself with "no offense", you knew someone would be offensive. Yes I like the Twilight books. I like them because they have good morals in them, and it's a great way to get them to teens. A lot of my CCD girls have said I want to marry Edwards, I say that's great but he's a fictional character, but you should look for someone who treats woman the way Edward treats Bella.
Edward as a vampire is fascinated with Bella as she's the only human who's mind he can't read. he doesn't stalk her as some have said (they have not read the books if this is what they come up with), he tries to protect her and get to know her,and well Bella needs protection. He thinks and looks at himself as a monster and wants to know what possibly could attract her to him (other than her blood) and well most of all her to him. Edward tries many times to get Bella to realize that he's dangerous, but as Bella says it doesn't matter what you are, I love you.
It's a fictional story, why are people reading so much in between the lines. Edward won't "change" Bella (into a vampire, actually he's opposed to it through out most of the books) until after she has married him, and once they are married they behave like a married couple, sex is saved until after marriage like it's supposed to be. Yes they kiss in the books, don't most people kiss while dating, as for Edward watching Bella sleep, well he cant' sleep, she has too, find me someone who hasn't fallen asleep in front of someone or a parent who hasn't watched their child sleep.
I'll blog about why I think the movie was bad later.
I have yet to see the movie, so I can only comment on the books right now, and from what I have seen with the trailers for the movie, the book is better, as is usually the case. Now I've heard both good things and bad things about the books so I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew something must be good if Bridget was after me to read them.
Yes it's about vampires and other mythical creatures but if you get beyond that; you can see series of books with a great message. The woman who wrote the books is a Mormon so at first you wonder how she could write a book involving "evil" creatures such as vampires. Stephenie Meyer has written a book for teens that they love with a "save sex" til marriage message.
Maybe it's because I'm a girl and yes the book is geared toward teenage girls, but I found myself having played the part of the main character, Bella, in my own life, and if I can I assume many other girls have too. Seeing a guy, falling in love, (though mine wasn't true love as I'm not married yet), wanting to be with said guy.
The movie as I expected was good but no where near as good as the book.
Also, when I comment else where that I am a 29 year old who and read the books vs. a teen who has read them, I don't need to get comments that say "well most of them haven't read good literature, so very average literature appeals to them... no offense" As a person who went through Catholic grammar and Public high school and I say easily that it wasn't until I met my friend Bridget that I started reading CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and many others, so I trust her opinion on books. She got the better education, she was home schooled I suffered through a Holocaust book a year in high school along with other books, never once did we read Narnia, or Lord of the Rings, which is we wanted a taste of good literature is what we should have been reading.
The person who posted that comment may not have meant any offense, but really if you have to start or defend yourself with "no offense", you knew someone would be offensive. Yes I like the Twilight books. I like them because they have good morals in them, and it's a great way to get them to teens. A lot of my CCD girls have said I want to marry Edwards, I say that's great but he's a fictional character, but you should look for someone who treats woman the way Edward treats Bella.
Edward as a vampire is fascinated with Bella as she's the only human who's mind he can't read. he doesn't stalk her as some have said (they have not read the books if this is what they come up with), he tries to protect her and get to know her,and well Bella needs protection. He thinks and looks at himself as a monster and wants to know what possibly could attract her to him (other than her blood) and well most of all her to him. Edward tries many times to get Bella to realize that he's dangerous, but as Bella says it doesn't matter what you are, I love you.
It's a fictional story, why are people reading so much in between the lines. Edward won't "change" Bella (into a vampire, actually he's opposed to it through out most of the books) until after she has married him, and once they are married they behave like a married couple, sex is saved until after marriage like it's supposed to be. Yes they kiss in the books, don't most people kiss while dating, as for Edward watching Bella sleep, well he cant' sleep, she has too, find me someone who hasn't fallen asleep in front of someone or a parent who hasn't watched their child sleep.
I'll blog about why I think the movie was bad later.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
SHU's Chapel
I went looking for my pictures of the Chapel, it took me a while to find them as I didn't remember when I took them just that I took them. Alas I found them, they are from October 2007 despite my thinking it was before that.
You can see in this picture that different designs were being "tried out" on the wall, it took me a second to realize that something was different.
I thought I did a better job of taking pictures, guess I was in too much of a hurry to actually get the pictures taken than caring about how focused they were. I just say I'm excited to go and see the re-stored Chapel and to take pictures of it.
Here's an article on the re-stored Chapel
As soon as I find pictures of the newly restored Chapel I will try to do a side by side comparison. The pictures I was sent by one of the campus ministers were sent to her by one of the priests on campus and I don't want to use his personal photos on my blog. Oh well that's just an excuse to go visit one of my favorite chapels. You'll see a picture in the link if you click on it.
You can see in this picture that different designs were being "tried out" on the wall, it took me a second to realize that something was different.
I thought I did a better job of taking pictures, guess I was in too much of a hurry to actually get the pictures taken than caring about how focused they were. I just say I'm excited to go and see the re-stored Chapel and to take pictures of it.
Here's an article on the re-stored Chapel
As soon as I find pictures of the newly restored Chapel I will try to do a side by side comparison. The pictures I was sent by one of the campus ministers were sent to her by one of the priests on campus and I don't want to use his personal photos on my blog. Oh well that's just an excuse to go visit one of my favorite chapels. You'll see a picture in the link if you click on it.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
On a happier note
Seton Hall my alma mater just finished refurbishing it's chapel so I'll be posting some pics soon. I've always loved the Main Chapel as we called it and it looks amazing I can't wait to see it in person.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sometimes you don't what to think.
This morning I woke up at 8am a fairly normal hour, I checked facebook from my phone because I am that addicted to it. I saw my friend James' status was "going back to NJ for a very sad day." I assumed it had something to do with his wife's side of the family so I let it go. About an hour later and after sleeping some more, I check facebook via my phone again. It amuses me that I do this because the PC is down the hallway in the living room. This time I saw Brendan's status say "pray" and I saw Britney's status say "praying for everyone." I knew with Brendan having pray up that it was James' side of the family and when Britney (a friend of the family) had something written I thought "uh-oh."
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the text message that I did get. So after seeing these statuses I send a text message to my friend Bridget (she is James and Brendan's Aunt) and I say "What happened or what is happening, I only ask because of James', Brendan's and Britney's statuses on facebook." I got back a very straight forward message that said "I didn't get to call you yet, but it's Nicky. He's dead. We're going to the hospital." I read the text message and I knew what it said and I responed back with a "holy crap, what the hell happened? tell katie and everyone that i'll be praying for everyone."
I honestly expected to be something about Bridget's father, and I don't know why her dad came to mind first but he did. I never thought I would read, hear, see the words Nicky's dead. Nicky is Bridget's grand-nephew or great-nephew what ever you want to call him and Katie is her nice and Nicky's mom.
I re-read the text message about 4 or 5 times before it really sank in and then again it really didn't until a little while later when James (Katie's brother, Nicky's uncle and then Bridget's nephew) left a message much like the one I left for our friend Kelly, you know the classic, "when you get this call me back, I've got news that I'm not leaving on a message."
I had of all things a funeral Mass to go to so I went off and showered and continuously checked facebook via my cell phone at times wishing that somehow Bridget's text was going to magically change. I went to the funeral Mass and tried my best to think of and pray for Joann, whom I know from the Cornerstone Retreat team I am on, who is the wife of the man who the funeral Mass was for, but I couldn't my mind was completely on Nicky and Katie. Fr. George was preaching to the family of the man who died, he was preaching to all of us, but it was geared towards the family. Fr. George spoke of love. All I could think of was yep that's why it hurts because I love Katie and Nicky. I know where Nicky is, he's in Heaven with his cousins Fiona and Bernadette and his great-aunt Teresa and his great-uncles Matthew and Owen, who also were taken home to God earlier than we would have liked. I'm sure there's other family members up there too, I just know their names.
Nicholas Tolentine Alexander Knock (yes that is his full name, he was born around or on the feast of our Lady of Knock so that got tossed in, and Alexander came from Fiona (who died about a month and a half before Nicky was born) whose middle name is Alexandra), may you rest in peace, your short life brought great joy to those of us who knew you, even if I was the crazy one with the camera that you saw once in a while.
Katie my prayers are with you as you will need them more than anyone. I want to do nothing more than just hug you right now. My prayers are also with the family, I've know you guys for 10 years now and from the first time I met you I was treated as family. Hell, most of you consider me family.
Life is so confusing at times. God has His plan, we may not understand it, but we have to go with it.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the text message that I did get. So after seeing these statuses I send a text message to my friend Bridget (she is James and Brendan's Aunt) and I say "What happened or what is happening, I only ask because of James', Brendan's and Britney's statuses on facebook." I got back a very straight forward message that said "I didn't get to call you yet, but it's Nicky. He's dead. We're going to the hospital." I read the text message and I knew what it said and I responed back with a "holy crap, what the hell happened? tell katie and everyone that i'll be praying for everyone."
I honestly expected to be something about Bridget's father, and I don't know why her dad came to mind first but he did. I never thought I would read, hear, see the words Nicky's dead. Nicky is Bridget's grand-nephew or great-nephew what ever you want to call him and Katie is her nice and Nicky's mom.
I re-read the text message about 4 or 5 times before it really sank in and then again it really didn't until a little while later when James (Katie's brother, Nicky's uncle and then Bridget's nephew) left a message much like the one I left for our friend Kelly, you know the classic, "when you get this call me back, I've got news that I'm not leaving on a message."
I had of all things a funeral Mass to go to so I went off and showered and continuously checked facebook via my cell phone at times wishing that somehow Bridget's text was going to magically change. I went to the funeral Mass and tried my best to think of and pray for Joann, whom I know from the Cornerstone Retreat team I am on, who is the wife of the man who the funeral Mass was for, but I couldn't my mind was completely on Nicky and Katie. Fr. George was preaching to the family of the man who died, he was preaching to all of us, but it was geared towards the family. Fr. George spoke of love. All I could think of was yep that's why it hurts because I love Katie and Nicky. I know where Nicky is, he's in Heaven with his cousins Fiona and Bernadette and his great-aunt Teresa and his great-uncles Matthew and Owen, who also were taken home to God earlier than we would have liked. I'm sure there's other family members up there too, I just know their names.
Nicholas Tolentine Alexander Knock (yes that is his full name, he was born around or on the feast of our Lady of Knock so that got tossed in, and Alexander came from Fiona (who died about a month and a half before Nicky was born) whose middle name is Alexandra), may you rest in peace, your short life brought great joy to those of us who knew you, even if I was the crazy one with the camera that you saw once in a while.
Katie my prayers are with you as you will need them more than anyone. I want to do nothing more than just hug you right now. My prayers are also with the family, I've know you guys for 10 years now and from the first time I met you I was treated as family. Hell, most of you consider me family.
Life is so confusing at times. God has His plan, we may not understand it, but we have to go with it.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I was asked to pass this around
so I am. Chris Slattery of EMC in NYC asked me to pass this article around and if possible leave a comment on it. I will leave my comments later as I'm off to dinner at a friend's house, however I am taking the time to post the link. As I don't know how many people actually read the blog, I figure it's better to post it anyway even if only one person reads it. ;)
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