The Gift of Kindness
Watching the news today can be depressing. We see people being mean, even cruel, to others. The world is rife with violence and war. Still, we can all recall times when people, including strangers, have shown extraordinary kindness to us. Here are two of my pleasant memories . . .
An Accident
Shortly after moving into a new home, I sat in the car, ready to go to early morning Mass. Glancing down, I noticed a coffee stain on my skirt. I returned to the house and took care of it. Back in the car, I didn’t want to be late for Mass. Swiftly I backed out of the impossible curved driveway that even baffled confident men drivers. No one ever parked opposite that driveway. But that day—CRASH! A construction crew was working on the house across from mine. The owner of the house had parked his car in the street to give the workers space in his driveway. A construction worker phoned him to break the news that his car had been hit. My car, the aggressor, was fine.
When the owner, a very tall young man, came out. He examined the damage and said, “I was thinking of getting a new car.” That was all. Then he introduced himself and said, “If you ever need any help, like changing a lightbulb, call on me.”
When people asked how I met Jim, I would answer, “Oh, I just bumped into him one day.” And Jim did become a good neighbor. He fixed my front door, and on Easter when a blizzard cancelled people’s visits, he invited me over to join his family for Bunny Buns he had made.
A Thanksgiving Day to Remember
Mom and I were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with Sisters at a nearby convent. That morning, I phoned her and greeted, “Happy Thanksgiving.” She moaned, “It’s not so happy.” She explained that as she made her bed, something flew into her eye and it hurt. Because she had recently undergone cataract surgery, I was afraid this was a serious problem. I tried to contact her eye doctor with no success. Mom sent me to join the Sisters for the meal without her.
When I returned, bringing her a dinner, I managed to reach the doctor through his answering service. He said that if we came to his office at 3:30, he would meet us there. I deposited Mom’s dinner in the refrigerator, and we dashed out of the house. Luckily, no police saw me speeding and weaving around traffic to arrive on time. The town and the doctor’s office building were unfamiliar. In the parking lot as Mom and I emerged from the car, the doctor was walking toward us. He took my mother’s other arm, and we entered the building.
It turned out that Mom’s cornea was scratched. After treating her, the doctor mentioned that he had left twenty-eight Thanksgiving guests in order to be there!
Back at Mom’s house, I discovered that I had left the house key inside. My sister who also had a key was out of town and wouldn’t be back until evening. Aha, I knew the code for the lock provided for medical emergencies! In pouring rain, I tried over and over to open the lock on the front door. Finally giving up, I drove Mom to my convent, leaving behind her Thanksgiving dinner sitting in her refrigerator.
When we arrived at my convent, I received a call from Jim across the street. He asked if he could bring over some dessert. I explained our predicament. A little later, the doorbell rang and there was Jim with two Thanksgiving dinners. He and his wife were vegans. So, that day Mom and I feasted on tofu turkey.
In Tennessee Williams’ play Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche says, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” We thank God for family, home, and food. We are also grateful for the people who come to our aid in emergencies. Maybe when have a flat tire on the road, someone parks behind us and changes it for us. Or a friend gives us tickets for a concert. God’s love is channeled to us through these generous people.
• When has someone been an angel to you when you were in need? When have you been someone’s angel?
Hobbies for Mental and Physical Health
Hobbies are not a waste of time. The main article of this month’s Reader’s Digest is “How Hobbies Help (and Heal) Us.” Here is a fact I gleaned from it that is supported by science and research: An enjoyable hobby releases endorphins, the feel-good chemicals, and lowers cortisol, the stress hormone. The results are lower blood pressure, less inflammation, better sleep, improved heart health, stronger immune system and more energy. On top of that, adopting a hobby sharpens our brain, helps us live longer, and makes us happy. Hobbies that involve other people help us thrive. An interesting statistic: “Chronic loneliness is worse for your health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
So, who wouldn’t want a hobby or two or three?
My Hobbies
Reading this article made me examine my life for hobbies I had. As a child I collected pennies in cardboard holders made for that purpose. My piano teacher even saved her pennies for me.
My stamp collection hobby began in the fourth grade, the day we students were asked to bring something in for show-and-tell. My father gave me a couple stamps from the Philippines where he was during World War II. Soon I had a large Ambassador stamp album and took delight filling it in with stamps mostly purchased from stamp companies.
As an adult I collected the quarters minted in honor of the fifty states and in the order they became a state. I know, you can purchase complete sets, but that is not as much fun as searching through change to discover one you were missing.
My mother saw to it that we girls learned needlework: embroidery, crocheting, sewing, and darning socks! I still make baby blankets that my community sells at events like our Chicken Barbecue coming up September 29. These come in handy when one of my friends or relatives is expecting.
On a long bus ride, a Sister was creating something with her hands darting. Curious, I sat beside her on the way home, and she taught me how to tat. Lace-making with a shuttle, an art of ladies centuries ago. Some are holding shuttles in their portraits. I tatted cross bookmarks, edges for pillowcases, and tiny flowers for stationery. One year I made Advent wreaths pins for all the Sisters in my house.
Music
I learned how to play the piano as a child. I loved playing, and whenever I was upset, I would go to the piano and played to overcome my sadness or anger. Later, in the convent, I learned the guitar and was able to play at Mass. Although my guitar skills have vanished, along with my guitar, I still play the piano. In fact, every Sunday for the residents in Notre Dame Village where I live. One of our chefs asked I knew “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I didn’t, but I got a copy of the music and mastered it. In the video below you’ll hear it played by a pianist far better than I could ever play it.
Other Hobbies
Some people cook as a hobby, paint, swim, golf, or play pickleball. Not I! But any day now, maybe I’ll take up learning Spanish again—for the fourth time.
• What hobbies have you had or do you have? Why do you enjoy them?
Enjoy:
Praying for Healing
Jesus was known as a healer. Sick and disabled people thronged around him, hoping for a cure. People brought their ailing relatives and friends to him. He cured blind, deaf, mute and disabled sufferers. He even brought people back to life. For the whole world, he brought about salvation. (This word is derived from the Latin salus, which means “health.” We call him the Divine Physician.
Sometimes Jesus cures today, sometimes in such a way that we call it miraculous. Sometimes, for reasons unknown to us, people do not get well.
Once I was facing surgery for a herniated disc in my neck. During the pre-op, the nurse told me that her husband had been cured of epilepsy after their parish prayed for him. I said, I’ve been praying like crazy, but Jesus hasn’t cured me. She said, “He is curing you. Through the doctors.”
A while ago, I came across a prayer that I credit for improving several of my health problems. It’s a beautiful prayer that you might like to adopt:
St. Padre Pio’s Powerful Healing Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank you for loving me.
I thank you for sending your Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to save and to set me free.
I trust in your power and grace that sustain and restore me.
Loving Father,
touch me now with your healing hands,
for I believe that your will is for me to be well in mind, body, soul, and spirit.
Cover me with the most precious blood of your Son,
our Lord, Jesus Christ, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.
Cast anything that should not be in me.
Root out any unhealthy and abnormal cells.
Open any blocked arteries or veins and rebuild and replenish any damaged areas.
Remove all inflammation and cleanse any infection
by the power of Jesus’ precious blood.
Let the fire of your healing love pass through my entire body
to heal and make new any diseased areas
so that my body will function the way you created it to function.
Touch also my mind and my emotions,
even the deepest recesses of my heart.
Saturate my entire being with your presence,
love, joy, and peace, and draw me ever closer to you every moment of my life.
And, Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit
and empower me to do your works
so that my life will bring glory and honor to your holy name.
I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Non-Traditional Healing
Currently I’m editing a book about Reiki, a form of energy medicine that brings about wholistic health, balance, and well-being. It promotes healing and inner peace. Although some people consider Reiki superstitious, it is being practiced in hospitals and clinics. More and more people are coming to understand it and witnessing its benefits. Research is being done on it.
Anointing of the Sick
Our Catholic Church offers the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. No longer, a rite only for people who are dying, this sacrament is available to anyone who has a serious illness, is elderly, or facing major surgery. Through it we can experience the comfort and healing of Jesus today, as well as the support of other Christians. By signs of oil and the laying on of hands and through a priest’s words, the Anointing of the Sick makes present God’s life and power (grace). Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). One way he promotes life is through this sacrament.
I’ve written a book about this sacrament, especially for those who may be reluctant to receive it.
Saints
We can also appeal to our heavenly friends, the saints, for healing. Many of them have their particular domain: St. Lucy cares for eyes, St. Alphonsus Liguori helps with arthritis, St. Peregrine is in charge of cancer, St. Benedict is the go-to one for kidney disease, and St. Apollonia cares for teeth (when she was martyred, she was tortured by having all her teeth pulled out or shattered).
When you are sick, in addition to taking pills, vitamins, and getting shots, try a little supernatural medicine.
• What is your experience with Jesus healing you or someone you know?
Here is a song for healing:
Praying with Art
My yearly retreat this time exposed me to many different ways of praying, two of them involved art. You might like to try them.
Scribble Drawing
- Invite God to be with you as you work.
- In one continuous motion scribble, covering a paper and letting the lines overlap. Variations: Close your eyes or draw with your non-dominant hand.
- With a black marker trace over the lines you wish to keep. Color the shapes or designs. You might make heavy black lines to resemble a stained-glass window.
- Reflect on your artwork. What does it mean to you? Are the colors you used significant?
- Pray about your experience.
- When finished, gaze at your scribble until you see objects or a design formed by the lines. You might need to turn the paper in different positions.
In my art, I could make out burning incense and a heart as you see in the photo here. Obviously, the incense stood for my life, an offering of praise to God; and the heart represented God’s love for me and my love for God.
Coloring a Mandala
Videos on YouTube explain how to draw a mandala yourself. To save time, find a book or website that offers mandalas to color. Choose one and decide whether to use crayon, paints, or colored pencils or markers. You can work from the outside in or from the inside out. You can shade areas or blend two colors in one area.
As you color the mandala, pray in any way you choose. Or be silent and simply, relax, and listen for God’s voice. In coloring, you concentrate and focus on your thoughts. Pay attention to them: Are they happy or sad or angry? What are you imagining? Do the colors you choose mean anything? What do they tell about you?
Reiki
Currently I’m editing a book about reiki, a healing practice. One chapter deals with the role of art as healing therapy: chromotherapy. Colors influence our feelings. As a teacher I learned that cool colors like blue and green will help keep students calm, while hot colors like red and orange will make them antsy. Coloring lowers stress and promotes positive thoughts, so it benefits people who suffer from depression, anxiety, trauma.
Speaking of color, did you know that we humans can see 10 million different colors? Nevertheless, some creatures can detect more than that! Thank God for color!
Worthwhile Emails
Every day in my email inbox a wonderful post from “Christian Art” appears. It is produced by Fr. Patrick van der Vorst from the Diocese of Westminster, an art expert born in 1971 and ordained as a priest just last year. His emails offer the day’s Gospel with a reflection on it accompanied by a related piece of art with comments on it. The art ranges from classic to modern. I highly recommend signing up for this free service at https://christian.art. Recently, the Gospel included the line “Anyone who welcomes a little child in my name welcomes me.” The artwork featured was this charming one by Renoir, “Girl with a Watering Can.”
Here is a peaceful video for you that doesn’t explain how to color a mandala but shows one being colored:
Stars and Meteors, Praise God!
The Perseid meteor shower peaked on Sunday night before dawn. At 12:30 p.m. our skies were too cloudy to view it. I set my alarm for what I thought was right before dawn. Sadly, when I it went off, it was already dawn. The sky was a soft blue instead of black, and there was a gentle orange glow hemming the horizon all around and two bright stars were still shining. This was a beautiful sight, but I had missed the awesome phenomenon.
Years ago, I had seen the Leonid shower when I lived at Notre Dame College. I stood standing, staring up with my head supported by its brick wall. I counted 86 meteors before tiring and leaving. Another Sister, smarter than me, was viewing the shower from the comfort of a long lawn chair.
My Experience with Stars
I recall how proud I was as a child when I finally mastered drawing a star, you know, the kind with five points. I was also proud whenever I found a star drawn or stuck on to one of my school papers.
Bing Crosby’s song “Swinging on a Star” was in my repertoire, and I was taught this nursery rhyme to say on spotting the first star:
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.
In the sixth grade, for doing well on a test, I was given a book about constellations, which I treasured.
My most memorable star event occurred when I was riding in a van to Laredo, Texas. During one stretch there were no lights, so it was pitch black. Above us, the sky sparkled with thousands of stars. I could understand how people thought heaven was “up.” And how long ago people worshipped stars as gods. Today, horoscopes are based on the stars, moon, and planets, because people assume they have power to foretell our future.
Stars Twinkling in Scripture
In Genesis, on the fourth day of creation God set lights in the sky, including stars. Psalm 147:4 tells us that God determines the number of stars and gives them their names. The next psalm tells the shining stars to praise God. The three men in the fiery furnace tell the stars of heaven to bless the Lord.
God compares the number of descendants Abraham will have to the number of stars in the sky.
Daniel 12:3 says that those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.
During the Easter Vigil, in the reading from Baruch we hear in this delightful description of God: He is the One “before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice; when he calls them they answer, ‘Here we are!’ shining with joy for their Maker.”
St. Francis of Assisi in his Canticle of Creation praises God for the stars, which he has has “set shining and lovely in the heavens.”
Of course, the most famous star of all is the one who led the three wise men from the East to Bethlehem. In the Christmas carol we sing,
“O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light.”
Some Scientific Facts
• The stars we see at night are all larger and brighter than our sun (which is a star).
• Our sun is a dwarf star as opposed to a giant or supergiant, which are in the old age stage of star life.
• Stars do not twinkle. It’s Earth’s atmosphere that makes them appear to.
• On a good night you can see a star about 19 quadrillion miles away.
Star Tidbits
“My stars” is an exclamation both Shakespeare and Dickens used.
When our head is hit hard, we see stars, literally. The disconnect between our retina and the occipital lobe of our brain causes flashes of light.
Meteors
I did some research on meteors. Although we call them shooting stars and falling stars, they are not stars. Unlike stars which are balls of burning gasses, meteors are rocks traveling through space. Before they enter Earth’s atmosphere, they are called meteoroids. In the atmosphere they are called meteors, and when they hit the Earth, they are called meteorites.
As meteors go through our atmosphere friction is caused, making the rocks give off the light and tail we see. By the time they reach Earth, not much of the rock is left.
Note: Remember, you are made of stardust! When a star exploded, its atoms of dust and gas formed planets. Because you are made from matter from Earth, elements of life, you are made from stardust.
• Have you ever experienced a meteor shower? If so, what was it like?
Here is a nostalgic piece of music: Julie Andrews singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the movie Pinocchio.
