Pope John Paul II was already Pope for four years by the time I was born. To me, and an entire generation of young Catholics, he was and had been the only Pope. When I went to Rome first quickly on a high school trip and later for three months during my sophomore year of college I was thrilled to go to the Vatican where this great and inspirational man lived.
When I was there for college my goal was to see the Pope as many times as I could. I went to several Sunday angelus, my school arranged a Papal audience, and then there was Holy Week. We went to St. Peter's for Palm Sunday mass, we returned on Good Friday for Stations of The Cross, on Saturday was the Easter Vigil and then Sunday was Easter mass. we got to the square early and got a good spot in the middle of a row. At the end of the mass people began moving to where they thought John Paul II was going to drive which allowed me to walk to the barricade. Then John Paul II made a turn and began heading towards the aisle that I was near. I climbed up on a chair (And I think about six nuns tried to follow me on to the chair). And watched as he drove just a few feet away from me. I can close my eyes and see that day in my mind.
When he became ill and it was clear he would not live much longer I felt as if I was losing someone I knew. I remember stopping at my parish church one day to light a candle and say a prayer. When I left the church I got in my car and I had the radio on set to 1010 Wins (24 hour news radio). The correspondent said that the Pope had reportedly said something along the lines of "you have come back to me." Now I don't know when he said that but I felt like he was talking to me. To me he was as much an integral part of the Church as the Bible and the sacraments. He had always been there. I had never even thought about a different Pope.
I'm not surprised that Pope John Paul II has meet the requirements for Sainthood so quickly. We all knew that we were in the presence of a Saint and now it is official.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
The Good Guy and The Bad Guy
This is a story my Dad would love to tell.
A long time ago there was a very good guy driving on a mountain road. Now this good guy was a very very good guy. He was driving home from a charity dinner where he had been the keynote speaker. He had been talking about some of his latest ventures including but not limited to opening schools in the middle east for girls to receive an education and hopefully shape the world into a better place, providing clean drinking water to African villages as well as medication and medical training to the inhabitants to eradicate diseases and raise the quality of life, teaching farmers in South America new irrigation techniques as well as helping to provide them with the latest in farming technology so that they could produce more, and rebuilding Detroit by providing new educational avenues for the children of Detroit. He was on his way to the airport where he was going to fly to Washington DC to attend a conference on education where he was going to announce his newest plans to revitalize American education and bring equality to all through education.
Driving in the opposite direction on this mountain road was a bad guy. Now this bad guy was a very bad guy. He was running away from the police because he was wanted for a bank robbery where he had stolen over a million dollars from the vault. He had stolen the car he was in by forcing a family with a small child out of the car at gun point. During the robbery he had shot at least one person in the bank. He was working on several scams stealing money from retired and disabled people. He also had stolen the identities of several people and taken all their money bankrupting them. He pretended to be an investor and had stolen the retirement of many many people. And had also set up a fake charity and funneled the money donated by good hearted people to a secret account in the Cayman Islands.
Now this road they were driving on was a winding road as it went up and down the mountain. It was also very narrow with only one lane in each direction. On one side was the rough mountain rock and on the other side was a huge drop. To make this road even more dangerous it was a very dark and rainy night. Now normally on this road you couldn't see very far in front of you. With the heavy rain visibility was even worse. On this particular night you could hardly see the front of the car.
Now the good guy, who was also well known for his work bringing urban gardening to poor neighborhoods, was driving very carefully down the mountain. He had on his fog lights to help provide more light and had his hazard lights blinking to warn travelers behind and in front of him. He had lowered his speed to account for the weather and hazardous condition. The bad guy, who was suspected in a number of robberies of small businesses, was speeding up the mountain crossing in and out of his lane as he made the sharp turns.
As the good guy, who had once saved 15 people from a burning building by running in and leading them to safety with no thought of himself, came to a sharp turn he honked his horn as a warning before proceeding slowly forward. The bad guy, who committed numerous counts of insurance fraud, raised around the same curve crossing into the good guy's lane and the two cars crashed.
A few moments later the bad guy slowly opened his eyes. At first he felt shocked that he had survived the crash. But then he saw a golden stair case descending from the sky right to the good guy's wrecked car. An angel walked down the steps and when she reached the good guy she said "Here is the pass to Heaven. Take this up the steps and give it to St. Peter and he will open the gate for you."
The good guy took the pass and thanked the angel and then started up the steps. He looked back and saw the angel had vanished and then continued. The bad guy walked over to the steps and watched the good guy climbing up. He paused for a moment before looking back up the steps. The angel didn't give him a pass to Heaven and there was no way he was going to settle for Hell. So he jogged up the steps after the good guy.
"Hey wait." Said the bad guy as he walked up next to the good guy. "Look I saw the angel give you a pass but the angel didn't give me one. Look all I'm asking for is a second chance. I'm not a bad guy. I am just misunderstood, my entire life has been that way. My father was never around and my mother was busy with my 15 other siblings. I basically raised myself. And so it's not that I was bad I just didn't know any better. I was always picked on in school and was bullied. But when I tried to stand up for myself I got suspended for fighting and then from then on I always got in trouble even when I didn't do anything because I had a record."
The good guy listened and being a good guy he believed in giving people second chances so he ripped off a piece of the pass. "I don't know if this will help you but here is a piece of the pass." Then he continued on his way.
"And just in case you have anymore questions let me also show you the other pass."
"Which clearly says he goes right in."
A long time ago there was a very good guy driving on a mountain road. Now this good guy was a very very good guy. He was driving home from a charity dinner where he had been the keynote speaker. He had been talking about some of his latest ventures including but not limited to opening schools in the middle east for girls to receive an education and hopefully shape the world into a better place, providing clean drinking water to African villages as well as medication and medical training to the inhabitants to eradicate diseases and raise the quality of life, teaching farmers in South America new irrigation techniques as well as helping to provide them with the latest in farming technology so that they could produce more, and rebuilding Detroit by providing new educational avenues for the children of Detroit. He was on his way to the airport where he was going to fly to Washington DC to attend a conference on education where he was going to announce his newest plans to revitalize American education and bring equality to all through education.
Driving in the opposite direction on this mountain road was a bad guy. Now this bad guy was a very bad guy. He was running away from the police because he was wanted for a bank robbery where he had stolen over a million dollars from the vault. He had stolen the car he was in by forcing a family with a small child out of the car at gun point. During the robbery he had shot at least one person in the bank. He was working on several scams stealing money from retired and disabled people. He also had stolen the identities of several people and taken all their money bankrupting them. He pretended to be an investor and had stolen the retirement of many many people. And had also set up a fake charity and funneled the money donated by good hearted people to a secret account in the Cayman Islands.
Now this road they were driving on was a winding road as it went up and down the mountain. It was also very narrow with only one lane in each direction. On one side was the rough mountain rock and on the other side was a huge drop. To make this road even more dangerous it was a very dark and rainy night. Now normally on this road you couldn't see very far in front of you. With the heavy rain visibility was even worse. On this particular night you could hardly see the front of the car.
Now the good guy, who was also well known for his work bringing urban gardening to poor neighborhoods, was driving very carefully down the mountain. He had on his fog lights to help provide more light and had his hazard lights blinking to warn travelers behind and in front of him. He had lowered his speed to account for the weather and hazardous condition. The bad guy, who was suspected in a number of robberies of small businesses, was speeding up the mountain crossing in and out of his lane as he made the sharp turns.
As the good guy, who had once saved 15 people from a burning building by running in and leading them to safety with no thought of himself, came to a sharp turn he honked his horn as a warning before proceeding slowly forward. The bad guy, who committed numerous counts of insurance fraud, raised around the same curve crossing into the good guy's lane and the two cars crashed.
A few moments later the bad guy slowly opened his eyes. At first he felt shocked that he had survived the crash. But then he saw a golden stair case descending from the sky right to the good guy's wrecked car. An angel walked down the steps and when she reached the good guy she said "Here is the pass to Heaven. Take this up the steps and give it to St. Peter and he will open the gate for you."
The good guy took the pass and thanked the angel and then started up the steps. He looked back and saw the angel had vanished and then continued. The bad guy walked over to the steps and watched the good guy climbing up. He paused for a moment before looking back up the steps. The angel didn't give him a pass to Heaven and there was no way he was going to settle for Hell. So he jogged up the steps after the good guy.
"Hey wait." Said the bad guy as he walked up next to the good guy. "Look I saw the angel give you a pass but the angel didn't give me one. Look all I'm asking for is a second chance. I'm not a bad guy. I am just misunderstood, my entire life has been that way. My father was never around and my mother was busy with my 15 other siblings. I basically raised myself. And so it's not that I was bad I just didn't know any better. I was always picked on in school and was bullied. But when I tried to stand up for myself I got suspended for fighting and then from then on I always got in trouble even when I didn't do anything because I had a record."
The good guy listened and being a good guy he believed in giving people second chances so he ripped off a piece of the pass. "I don't know if this will help you but here is a piece of the pass." Then he continued on his way.
The bad guy looked at the piece of the pass in his hand and then looked back at the good guy going up the stairs. He was worried that just the bit he had wouldn't be enough so he jogged to the good guy again.
"Hey, I mean no one has ever ever tried to help me before. I have always felt looked down on like people thought they were better than me. People would see me and walk away or go inside. My teachers and bosses were always nasty to me and talked down to me like I was an idiot. I got framed for a crime I didn't commit and my lawyer was in on it. Then I always got harassed because of my criminal record and all I ever wanted was a friend, someone I could trust who would help me when I needed it."
The good guy listened carefully to the story and then looked down at the pass in his hand. He ripped off another piece of the pass and handed it to the bad guy. "I hope this is what you need." Said the good guy.
The bad guy looked at the 2/3 of the pass he was holding and the 1/3 the good guy had in his hand. "Later idiot." Called the bad guy as he jogged up the steps to the Golden Gate.
"Hey. you're Peter, right? Here is my pass." Said the bad guy as he held up the pieces of pass. St. Peter looked at it.
"Well that says you can't enter." Said St. Peter. Then the good guy walked up and showed St. Peter the remaining piece of pass.
"Thank you very much." Said St. Peter as the gate opened. "Please enter heaven." The good guy smiled and went through the gate which closed behind him. The bad guy stared in disbelief.
"Wait that isn't fair. I had more of the pass than he did. Why didn't you let me in?"
"It's not up to me." Said St. Peter "I just do as the pass directs. Let me show you." Then he began to open the bad guy's pass.
"And just in case you have anymore questions let me also show you the other pass."
"Which clearly says he goes right in."
THE END
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Home Improvements Part Deux
Well we took another quick trip down to my house in TN. And by quick trip I mean quick. We left NY on a Thursday afternoon and were back on Monday by midnight.
Saturday was the busiest day as I got up and started working early. I changed the last of the locks and deadbolts so that now all my locks are the same key and all are the finish and quality I want. In total I changed nine locks and I now also know how to re-key locks (an added bonus).
A couple of weeks before the drive I had gone to Ikea to look for bookshelves. I settled on the Billy style and bought two large bookcases and two small book cases. So Saturday morning I started putting them together. Assembly went well and was pretty quick. All four together cost about $200.
As I am looking to furnish my house I have gone to a few stores looking for different ideas. I really like things I have seen at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Sadly I'm not so much a fan of their prices. I went to Ikea figuring I would look there for book shelves and dressers so I could save on those. I never thought about Ikea for couches and chairs. I don't really know why I just always figured they wouldn't be as comfortable and wouldn't hold up well. While I was strolling around the Ikea showroom my opinion began to change. I saw one love seat/chaise lounge which had storage under the chaise lounge section and the loves seat could be pulled out to make a sofa bed. Not only did I really like the extra storage but the pull out feature would be great for when I have company. Now back to the bookshelves.
Assembly went well and I really feel like the quality of Ikea furniture has improved since the last time I bought furniture. To me quality shows not only in material but in little details and one detail really struck me in it's simplicity.
When I finally get down to TN I will probably take a trip to the Ikea in Georgia and get 2 more of each book case and maybe even a couch. I will then have wall to wall bookshelves for around $400. Near where Meg works there is a furniture store and they had arm chairs with script writing on them. I figure add two of those and a side table and the room will be finished.
The next order of business was to put together a green house I had bought at the beginning of the year. I have great plans for gardening when I get down there. I figured starting the greenhouse will give Meg the ability to start on some herbs and with the greenhouse she will be able to grow them year round. The green house is 7x8x10. And after seeing it Meg is now thinking she might want to add a lime and a lemon tree to it. In the warm months they will enjoy being outside and then for the colder months they will still get lots of light in the safety of the green house.
The trip was a good one and it was nice to be at my house. It's crazy to think that I have now owned my house for a year and a half. Meg and I have made many plans for what we want to do with the landscaping and I look forward to being down there to do it.
Anyone have any good suggestions for the green house, other than herbs, a lemon tree and a lime tree?
Saturday was the busiest day as I got up and started working early. I changed the last of the locks and deadbolts so that now all my locks are the same key and all are the finish and quality I want. In total I changed nine locks and I now also know how to re-key locks (an added bonus).
A couple of weeks before the drive I had gone to Ikea to look for bookshelves. I settled on the Billy style and bought two large bookcases and two small book cases. So Saturday morning I started putting them together. Assembly went well and was pretty quick. All four together cost about $200.
As I am looking to furnish my house I have gone to a few stores looking for different ideas. I really like things I have seen at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Sadly I'm not so much a fan of their prices. I went to Ikea figuring I would look there for book shelves and dressers so I could save on those. I never thought about Ikea for couches and chairs. I don't really know why I just always figured they wouldn't be as comfortable and wouldn't hold up well. While I was strolling around the Ikea showroom my opinion began to change. I saw one love seat/chaise lounge which had storage under the chaise lounge section and the loves seat could be pulled out to make a sofa bed. Not only did I really like the extra storage but the pull out feature would be great for when I have company. Now back to the bookshelves.
Assembly went well and I really feel like the quality of Ikea furniture has improved since the last time I bought furniture. To me quality shows not only in material but in little details and one detail really struck me in it's simplicity.
These are the shelf pins that stick into the side of the bookshelf and the shelf sits on top of it. Notice how they are rounded. Each shelf has a matching area chiseled out so that the pins fit into the shelf. It made the shelves much more secure and added stability to the overall book shelf. I didn't have time to unpack books onto them but my wonderful sister did so here are a few pictures showcasing her decorating skills.
The next order of business was to put together a green house I had bought at the beginning of the year. I have great plans for gardening when I get down there. I figured starting the greenhouse will give Meg the ability to start on some herbs and with the greenhouse she will be able to grow them year round. The green house is 7x8x10. And after seeing it Meg is now thinking she might want to add a lime and a lemon tree to it. In the warm months they will enjoy being outside and then for the colder months they will still get lots of light in the safety of the green house.
Now while I was building the green house my Mom was outside trimming the numerous rose bushes I have around the house. The previous owner must have really liked rose bushes because there are at least three in the back and I think another three in the front. Anyway I kept hearing a dripping sound as I was building the green house and my Mom heard it too. Eventually Meg came out and pointed out the source of the noise. It was a bunch of Cow Birds. I took video and it might be hard to hear but if you watch you will see the bird puff up a bit and then hear the water noise.
The trip was a good one and it was nice to be at my house. It's crazy to think that I have now owned my house for a year and a half. Meg and I have made many plans for what we want to do with the landscaping and I look forward to being down there to do it.
Anyone have any good suggestions for the green house, other than herbs, a lemon tree and a lime tree?
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