From April 29, 2019
After three days of hard work dealing with all the boxes that to be moved or discarded, Yesterday was a wonderful day filled with great conversations and lots of laughter. The day began early. I arrived at the Holy Family Church at 8:05am, long before the start of the 9:30 liturgy. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my friend (and bookie) Anne McGann Yee, who manages the terrific bookstore. It was so wonderful to see her again.
From April 28, 2019
Yesterday was another long day. Most of the day was eaten up by dealing with the dozen plus boxes we hauled to Tommy and Suzie’s garage. I had to painstakingly go through each box making sure I didn’t toss anything important. I would guess 80% of the contents were marked for disposal.
From April 27, 2019
After yesterday’s long day of hauling endless boxes, I was thoroughly exhausted. Which is odd because Lee did most of the work and all of the heavy lifting. We worked nonstop from 9:30am to 5:15pm, without stopping for lunch or even a short break. We were under time pressure because of the rules of the storage company. At 9:30am they gave us the new smaller unit, which was on the third floor of the building. We had until 5:30pm to empty all the stuff from the larger unit on the second floor and move it to the third floor.
From April 26, 2019
Day One of the great emptying turned into a day of moving. I needed to get some boxes of DVDs and books to Florida. We had no idea how much this would cost to do…or if it would be too expensive to do. The post office was just a block away, so we went there before trying FedEx or UPS. Just one box of DVD’s, which were not that heavy cost $48 to ship. This was far too much for to ship more than just a few boxes. Then I remembered something. I said to the clerk, “Isn’t there a special rate for media materials?”
From April 25, 2019
I made is safely to Burbank and have settled into Suzie and Tommy’s home…just next door to where I used to live. My old residence looked both familiar and foreign at the same time.
From April 24, 2019
“Jesus have pity on me,” the blind man cried out as Jesus passed by. Touched by the blind man’s faith, Jesus healed him. We may not be physically blind or hurting, but we are all blind and injured, all in need of Jesus’ healing touch or word. Life is an ever-flowing stream of injuries, and frequently the injuries are inner or spiritual wounds that can cripple us. Melancholy, depression, abuse, betrayals, and bitter disappointments can blind us to the fullness of life, can trap us in a dark corner of despair. The inner injuries that we accumulate and allow to go unhealed can rip apart the fabric of our existence.
From April 23, 2019
We moved from Burbank, California to Ft. Pierce, Florida in late March 2017, leaving behind a big home where I had lived for about 10 years and squeezing into a small apartment. The move was made to be closer to Haiti, to dramatically reduce the travel time and expense. Before the move, I was unable to deal with a large storage unit containing DVD’s of my 24 films, as well boxes of my published books. Also, in the storage unit are boxes of paperwork associated with the San Damiano Foundation and Pax et Bonum Communications. For the past two years, I’ve been paying over $300 a month for the large storage unit.
From April 22, 2019
On April 16, 1783, during Holy Week, a filthy dirty homeless man collapsed from malnutrition in church of Santa Maris dei Monti in Rome, where he had been praying for two hours. He died a few hours later in a home behind the church, where he had been reluctantly taken by parishioners. He dressed in rags and never bathed. The sight of him repulsed many people; some had pity on him. He said that “our comfort is not in this world.” A few people, including his confessor, saw beneath his scruffy appearance and saw the soul of saint.
From April 21, 2019
Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of the dead.
Easter beckons us to build bridges to unity, bridges to a distant shore where common ground is found and peace prevails. Easter is a time of healing, a time for us to embody Christ’s work of reconciliation. We are called to realize the unity of creation.
From April 20, 2019 (Holy Saturday)
This first appeared in the Journal on Holy Saturday in March 2016.
Haiti is seared with sadness. The poor are stuck in the long, lonely, dark Holy Saturday between the cross and the resurrection, enduring the immensity of waiting for something to change. In Haiti, the wealth of a few is built upon the poverty of many. The same is true in America. Wall Street gamed and inflated the housing bubble, stealing billions in the process while leaving millions of households in ruin, as countless Americans lost pay, jobs, homes, and savings. We need to return to the principle of the common good.
