Fellow Faith Travelers,
I’m a little early this week because of the schedule so don’t think that you missed a day or two.   This morning I came across this short comment in the Office prayers.   “The Lord has worked marvels for us; make it known to the ends of the world.”

When we think about marvels what is being referred to would be the plagues in Egypt and then the parting of the Red Sea and the manna and quail that fed them during their 40 years in the desert.   Those would be the marvels that they kept that would have been immediate memories.
I think that much of the problem for us is that we are so far removed from those events that we tend to relate to those MIRACLES as past history that happened to another group of people but they seem to be disconnected to us.   So, in a sense they are not miracles that impact my faith or my life.   That would seem to be a serious problem because the marvels are then not marvels for us.

How then do we make those marvels known to the ends of the world?  Or if we have other marvels how do we make them known to the ends of the world?   I think the question for each of us is to ask when do we remember a time when we praised God for something that has been done whether we call it a marvel or not a marvel.   Do we have the idea that God doesn’t need to be praised which leaves us off the hook in the praise department?    Or are we all so deathly shy that we are mostly incapable of letting others know that we are in love with our God and notice all kinds of marvels around us at all times and want others to also notice the blessings from our generous God?
So, when was the last praise given to God   -----    that others heard?

And the Exodus continues, Fr. Dick (obviously not in a straight line)

Fellow Faith Travelers,
In my life as a priest I spend a good share of my life in the parish but I also have some efforts that are spent with the diocesan church family and that means the other priests and sometimes the Archbishop.   But most of you do not run into the either of our two bishops here in western Oregon very often.   
After my dates have been corrected up we will have Archbishop Sample here with us on the evening of June 27th first with members of the two Councils and then at a Townhall gathering (7PM) where you are invited to meet him and ask any questions that you might have.   
We pray for our archbishop at all of our Masses and yet he remains someone who is a mystery to most of us.   So, coming to listen and to shake hands is one of those times where much of the mystery can be laid to rest and have him become a real person.   He is Pastor to us and he can be a distant pastor or he can be a pastor that is real and alive to us.   It is much easier for us if he is a person living and alive to us when he speaks his messages.   This can happen better when we are able to have some interaction with him and feel like we know who he is.   
Some talking points might be where he has traveled on his bike (does he have his leathers blessed) and how big the bugs get in Northern Michigan.   Or you could tell him about things that have happened here in our parish.   
And the Exodus continues, Fr. Dick (obviously not in a straight line)

Fellow Faith Travelers,
This week we had the feast of the Visitation which has to do with Mary going to visit Elizabeth for three months.   We have no record of what they did during that time but we need to assume that more than conversation took place.   It would seem likely that Mary was assisting with getting the house ready for baby John coming which would mean baby clothes, possibly some dried foods and possibly some things being done for the two adults to make like easy for them with the new baby.
I’m not really interested in the physical things that Mary was helping with to make life bearable for Elizabeth.   I’m interested in the fact that she took the time to make the visit.   Yes, there would have been considerable conversation taking place as they were making clothes and working on preparing food for the coming child and to make meals easier.
In our world we noticed a bit during the recent Covid that we were lonely because we were unable to go and visit friends and relatives.   But it took Covid for us to notice that we wanted to visit someone.   Prior to Covid we were not noticing that it was time to go and visit someone.   We have a number of things these days that allow us to sit still on the sofa or at the desk and entertain ourselves without the interaction of being with another person.   We are able to hid out and be perfectly content being alone.
It is my thought that today’s feast might take on new importance as we examine the need for visiting the neighbor as something that Jesus thinks we need to being doing.   And why did Jesus visit with the disciples and with others?   What was the value?   Oh, and what sort of isolation will be taking place in Heaven?
And the Exodus continues, Fr. Dick (obviously not in a straight line)

Fellow Faith Travelers, 

Life seems to be going quickly and that is good.   My PT is progressing along with my second taking place yesterday.    The fellow rubbed some cream on my knee and above and below my knee and then used several different rakes to plow my knee and the surrounding area.   He did ask where it hurt the most and did lighten up a little where it hurt the most.   I asked what he was doing and he said that he was causing inflammation causing blood to come to the area.   He certainly cause the knee and area to swell up and ache last night.     

In today’s gospel reading we had Jesus talking about the suffering that Peter would be going through would be for the glory of God.   In my limping around lately, I have not come to that place where there has been any thought about the suffering being connected to grace or in any way being of benefit to anyone else.   I guess that I’m simply interested in getting through this time in life and get back to what life was like prior to severing my ligament.   When will I see some glory in the suffering in my life?    It looks to be awhile before that holiness comes to me.   I would hope that you are ahead of me.    

And the Exodus continues, Fr. Dick (obviously not in a straight line) 

Dear Parish members, 

As you know I'm back in the parish and attempting to carry out my responsibilities as best I'm able. It's wonderful to be back in the amidst of the smells and of what has been so familiar for so long.   But what is obvious to me after this week is that my time management needs to constantly be readjusted because what in my mind needs to take so many minutes now takes several more minutes because my mobility has changed.     

When a person is mobile you can afford to forget to bring something with you when going to the office.   But when you are not mobile you need to be a much better job of planning what will be needed for a longer period of time whereas before my injury, I could forget about something several hours away because it was possible to play catch-up without suffering very much.   Now if I forget to bring my wallet or the correct papers it isn't just the time it takes to return to the house or office, but it is also the needed energy that I'm missing that is needed to accomplish the task.   

It is certainly my hope that in going through my parish routines that after a couple of weeks my leg will have greater strength and that everything will become easier without my even noticing that things are changing.   Of course, I'm assuming that still another miracle will be taking place in that all of this will be changing more quickly than is possible.   I want to be back into my "normal" next week so that life will be simple and easy.   

I'm sort of thinking with a number of the psalms prayers when they address God and ask the question as to why are "You" sleeping you way through this problem.   I was told by my doctor that it would take a year for things to return to normal but somehow, I'm not able to fully absorb his comment.   I still expect God to perform something profound in the muscles and ligaments of my leg.   

Half a step at a time,  Fr. Dick

The good news is that my doctor here was impressed with the printout regarding my therpy sessions.   He said he was releasing me but that there was still work to be done and that it would be a year before I was back to where I was before the injury.   I have never seen a doctor act the way he was about my recovery.   He was gushing as if he never had a patient following directions before which causes me to wonder how other patients didn't do their exercises.   I didn't think that I over did it, but I did attempt to do the twice a day efforts.   

My brother was going to fly down and we would do a road trip sort of like a last brother effort, but he has had a couple of medical issues.   Now my brother-in-law and I will leave on Sunday and attempt to be speaking to each other at the end.   I will see you next weekend if all goes well.   

On Tuesday I was talking on the phone and all at once I see a snake come toward me across the gravel in the yard.   It stops at about five feet away and spends at least five minutes eying me as if I were some prey.   I think of myself as being large and to think Mr. Snake thought of me as being a mouse was chilling.   

I did manage to take a picture with my phone which was no small task considering my nerves and ability to find the proper icons on the phone.   When I finally stood the snake changed directions a little and went to a post on the porch and curled up covered a little with some spines of a yucca plant.   If I hadn't seen where it went, I would not have suspected that Mr. Western Diamondback was within 8 feet of me.   

When I have gone to the porch before I just assumed that it was a concrete slab with a few garden chairs scattered around and there was nothing to see.   Now I look at each of the chairs to see if Mr. Snake is taking a siesta or if there are some new cracks that have appeared and are not really cracks.   The ability of this animal to hide is truly amazing.   Judy's friend this week was gardening and found a snake and spent two days in ICU so there are some residents who take their space as their own.   

I will see you next weekend God willing, the creek doesn't rise, and I don't stumble,
Fr. Dick

Dear Parishioners,
I don't know if this time of quiet that I have been given has changed me or if I will go back to some of my old habits when I get back to St Mary's.  During this time life has gone slow in many ways and I have been given more opportunities to see better in some ways.   

I have noticed that when sitting in front of a bay window for several months now that all at once the small sound of bugs hitting the window became obvious to me.   I think that they must have been doing that before but now I could hear them constantly hitting the window.   They do not seem to drop down when they hit but immediately after smacking the window they seem to just go back from the direction they came from without loosing any height.   Just a little error in judgement or their sight is not able to see the window.

Another thing that I saw yesterday was a lizard on top of a rock (half the size of a basketball) jump to another rock and from a distance of only six or eight inches miss the other rock and slide off of the other rock.   I started laughing that some animal that does that sort of thing all the time had made such a mistake.   I almost expected the lizard to look around to see if anyone had noticed what had happened.   

All in all, I feel better that bugs and lizards are making the same kind of mistakes that I made when falling and damaging my knee.   And here I thought that I was a special kind of clutze.   

See you soon,   Fr. Dick

Dear Fellow Faith Travelers,  

Mostly my days are filled with doing my exercises, a few prayers and lots of reading.   My exercises at this time are heel slides in bed, left leg raises to strength my quad muscles, marching in place, and toes lifts.    When in the thearpy sessions there is now some walking with my brace unlocked which feels good and gets a normal walking pace taking place.   So things are moving forward.    

When watching the news that all of you like so much, I notice that there is considerable wringing of the hands about school shootings and other violent things taking place.   What never seems to take place is any conversation about God in life.   God does not seem to have a place in any solution.   

So there is nothing new in seeing that.   But for us, living in this society, absorbing this attitude, what it seems to do is to cause us to also leave God out of our conversation.   We also find ourselves when discussing and thinking about some issue from placing God in the midst of the issue.   We too can leave the most important person from being part of how this world needs to respond.   

For ourselves and for our society we need to very consciously bring God into the solution and into our conversation as a reminder to everyone that we do have at least part of the solution just by wanting God to help us and keep us balanced in how to deal with some issue.    

Still Exodusing,    Fr. Dick

Dear Parishioners, 

For those of you who read the book on Eucharist during Lent one of the things talked about was the new Exodus and how that is connected to our present life in the 21 century.   Well, I have some difficulty thinking about sitting still with this leg, it seems that I have standing still for a considerable amount of time.   

I have to ask myself that if exodusing  is taking place it would imply that some movement is happening.   So many of you have written and wished that my leg be healing quickly.  When I think back to the Israelites, I'm guessing that they didn't think life was moving very fast when they were stumbling around in the desert.   

As you exodus from this life to the final Promised Land of heaven what do you think helps you to understand that there really is movement taking place.   If we deny that movement is happening then we are also denying that what we are doing is part of our holy process of entering eternity.   Even if we are moving slowly let's not miss that we are moving and that the Lord is with us protecting and blessing us.   

Slow but not stalled,   Fr. Dick in absence,