Gordon Lightfoot Beautiful

I was first introduced to the Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot when I was 14 or 15.  His lyrics and voice still move me.  This is one of my favorites, along with "Rainy Day People".  Here are the lyrics; you can hear it on "Ilike"

Rainy day people always seem to know when it's time to call.


Rainy day people don't talk

they just listen till they've heard it all.

Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell you

they've been down like you.

Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two.



If you get lonely, all you really need is that rainy day love.

Rainy day people all know there's no sorrow

they can't rise above.

Rainy day lovers don't love any others

that would not be kind.

Rainy day people all know how it hangs

on their peace of mind.

Rainy day people always seem to know

when you're feelin' blue

I steps and stutters around in the gutters

sometimes need one, too.

Take it or leave it or try to believe it,

f you've been down too long,

Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside, they just pass it on.

Yesterday I was stunned to learn that my favorite singer/songwriter was born in 1933.  How could that be?  There are recent videos of him on Youtube, and like all the rest of us, age and illness have taken their toll. 

How I long for heaven where there will be "no more death or tears, no more sickness or sorrow..."

New sight, new eyes

I heard today that Michelangelo was roundly criticized when his Pieta was unveiled.  "Mary is too young, too beautiful, and too calm" said the naysayers. 

The artist replied that they were right, but it had been his intention.  He wanted, artistically, to demonstrate the Mary's faith and trust in God even at the end of the very worst day of her life.  And, Michelangelo continued,  he hoped to remind every person who ever viewed his work,  that they, also, could  trust God's love and goodness no matter what life brought their way.

For me, at least, works of art as famous as this one can become cliches.  I've seen it so many times I don't really look at it any more. 

More the pity! 

This story has given me new eyes not only for the Pieta but also into the life of faith.

Changing colors

Fall has finally arrived.   With the cooler breeze blowing through my hair, walking is pure joy. 

The summer's drought has many leaves turning brown and dropping already.  To my eyes, more trees look stressed or dying this year.

I hear distress from my neighbors in small comments that reflect anxiety about our nation's current economic problems.  I know some who're unemployed, some who've lost their homes to foreclosure, and many who are actively preparing for a future they fear.  One person, nearing retirement, said to me last week:  "I'm going to working till I die just to survive."

These realities and fears feel like a drought of hope.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for a future full of hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

The universe -- an accident????

An accident?

I just read on Yahoo News that Stephen Hawking recently wrote

Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."

It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

I hope the author of the piece has edited Hawking inappropriately. His conclusion begs the question (and I find it difficult to believe Hawking doesn't address it himself): Where did gravity come from (not to mention all the other natural laws which govern not only the earth but the universe)?

Today is the feast of St. Gregory the Great. He said:

Read the Scriptures and know God's mind.

In the eye of the storm

Hurricane Earl, bearing down on the east  coast, fills the airwaves today.  Millions of lives disrupted as they prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

How fortunate to have the benefit of advanced warning.  Despite interuption and inconvenience, we in the first world have the grace, which those in the developing world do not,  of prior warning.  Technology provides time to prepare and to avoid nature's fury, if one chooses.

Through the scriptures, church, faith, and sacred tradition God provides an early warning system for preparing to weather the storms of  our spirits.  Ignored them, ridiculed them (and those who heeded them), denied them, and finally named 'my own truth' based on my intelligence and education -- I've done it all at one time or another.


I've traveled many roads to at last surrender and say, "Jesus, I trust in you."  Implicit is a decision to do my best to obey, simply obey.  No excuses, no rationalization.  (Two things I'm quite accomplished at.)