Second Monday of Pentecost: "Ode to My Family"
Celebrating Father's Day + A few more photos of Pride + EMPATHY and Fr. Maurice Oullet - civil rights supporter from Montgomery, Alabama
I write late on Sunday evening at the end of what has been a nice Father’s Day. It’s nearly midnight, so I need to share an abbreviated post tonight - some photos, reflection, the spiritual theme for our next patron and (of course) a song!
Both of my kiddos visited me on Sunday for a pleasant dinner on our back porch:
My younger daughter (on the left of the photo) is almost 21 1/2 while my other daughter will be 24 next month. Lucy the Dog is on my lap. Yes, that is a cone around her head as she’s recovering from a semi-serious eye issue we discovered on Friday.
This was my first Father’s Day with my daughter-in-law as you may recall that my oldest was married just before the end of last year. I was grateful to have another family member to celebrate with today.
After we ate, I went inside to get Lucy her dinner while the three adult-kiddos talked. As I listened to them through the open door talk about cats, my dad-heart was warmed. My youngest daughter hasn’t spent much time with her relatively new sister-in-law, so I was glad they had this chance to talk and get to know each other better.
I smiled as this brought back a distinctive memory I have of the first time my kiddos really talked to each other. The oldest was about five, while their sister was three. I remember looking in the mirror to see them sitting in their booster seats behind me. It was a wonder to listen in to their first conversation in which they weren’t paying attention to me or their mom. In addition to happiness, I also felt that pang of knowing they were growing up and that they wouldn’t always be this young age:
After the my daughter and her wife left, my youngest enjoyed seeing the completed puzzle as my wife told stories about a few of the 1980’s novels on the jigsaw.
Speaking of photos, here’s a few from Saturday’s Pride Parade that I neglected to post previously:
J > Sol (Norse/Germanic) Prayers and inspiration from Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints & Mystics (2024) by Kreg Yingst [Note: I HIGHLY recommend that you purchase this amazing book so that you can experience the art accompanying each person]
The patron of EMPATHY is Maurice Ouellet (1926-2011)
Be imitators of Christ as we live his mystical life.
Christ of compassion, give me the courage to encounter you when you show up in uncomfortable ways. Help me to imitate your life now, not as I see fit, but as the needs of your body require. Amen
This song seemed apt for today:
As Planetary Pilgrims, we are invited to be aware of where our earth is in its annual trek around the sun as well as where our moon - Luna - is in its 28 day cycle around Earth.
So, as of this writing (midnight on Monday):
The Summer Solstice arrives (6/20/25, 10:41pm) where I live in 4 days, 22 hours, 28 minutes
Luna is in the waning gibbous or 77% of full. It's 20 days and 1 hours old (the time since the last new moon) Click HERE to see what the moon looks like at this phase.
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RIGHT NOW, we Planetary Pilgrims are MOVING:
1,000 mph - as the earth rotates
66,000 mph - as the earth orbits the sun (in one year we travel 595,000,000 miles around the sun)
43,000 mph - as the Sun, Earth, the seven other planets (and their satellites/moons) move together through space
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This movement through space passes us through time:
1 year, 140 days until the Midterm election (11/3/26)
3 years, 144 days until the next Presidential election (11/7/28)
3 years, 218 days until tRump finally is done and I turn (by God’s grace) 59 yrs old (1/20/29)
I plan to post again for Tuesday (as I’ll skip Wednesday this week due to a day trip I need to take) and I’ll be looking to write in the new format I have planned for this liturgical season ahead.