Today

I was at a funeral Mass yesterday. On a rainy, gloomy day totally befitting a funeral.

It was a farewell to an old neighbor. Many of my childhood memories are still locked into my brain but the people are leaving this earth. In my case, in these past twelve months, they are leaving rather quickly.

I’ve never been a fan of the priest who said the Mass. But it’s not all about me. I listened with an open mind.

At first, I did not like what appeared to be an actual reading of the obituary. Look, we all read it in the paper. Or knew this information already.

To be fair, two parishes combined and this priest is now overseeing both. And he was from the other parish.

Again, no one was lining up asking me to say the Mass.

He did personalize after the first few minutes. Whew. Did say that Billy was “other-centered.”

I kept my ears open. And I left with a message.

He took the opportunity (smart move) to welcome folks who may not have entered the doors of a church in awhile. Included non-Catholics. And non-Christian. Grouped under the “faith” umbrella.

The priest continued. Shared Matthew 25:35-40 from memory.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

He said this is how we will be judged in the end. Didn’t dwell on anything except this. Never mentioned our misdeeds of the past.

Today.

He said it would be a wonderful thing if we left this funeral with our life changed. Like today is the day. We could say, “My life changed on the day of Billy’s funeral.”

If we do these things. If we feed, clothe, visit and care for others.

See, if we are truly faithful, we believe that our past can be forgiven.

But what are we doing for others today?

Are we “other-centered” or “self-centered?” Does giving come naturally? How do we change if it is not natural? Do we do these things just because these are the keys to Heaven on Judgement Day? Tick it off the Judgement Day box? What if there is no Judgement Day? No God? Nothing? What if we are not faithful people? Shouldn’t we still do these things because it is morally good? The right thing to do.

These questions are all worthy of self-reflection and meditation.

The priest was right. Anyone’s life could change today. By doing these simple things for others. Moving toward other-centeredness and away from self. But we all have to figure out the how and why. In our own way.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

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Origins

I have been writing this blog since February of 2009. How crazy is that?

So much has changed since then. But the desire to write down my thoughts has not. Even though my written entries are infrequent my thoughts about “entrieability” take up way too much space in my gray matter. Like making up words such as “entrieability.”

My youngest daughter recently asked me about my father. She had questions for him and wished he was still around to ask. Now, the things she was asking were a mixed bag. History, loyalties, feelings, etc.

I answered what I could.

But I, myself, still have questions. Like where certain family words or phrases originated.

Yesterday, my husband said the word, “woo-woo.” I asked him if he knew why we (generations of my family) called the baby’s pacifier a woo-woo. He didn’t remember.

Well, family lore has that my maternal grandfather’s aunt Lizzie Laverty asked, while looking for the crying baby’s pacifier, “Ah, where’s the wee baba’s woo-woo?”

I understood this small piece of familial history to mean she just threw out a made-up word and it stuck. It’s what everyone in my family calls a pacifier. At least I know where this word originated.

When I sat at the dining room table my father would say, “Eat up. You’re at your Auntie’s.” He was the food pusher-not my Mom. But I never questioned the phrase while he was alive. I just ate and didn’t think about it.

Since he died, I’ve asked his cousins, sisters, etc. where it could have originated. I was on a quest. Who was Auntie?? No answers. My brothers seemed to think it was made up in my head. They don’t remember him even saying it. I don’t even know why I need to know.

But I say it all the time. My husband says it. “Eat up. You’re at your Auntie’s.”

Some months ago, we were going to have take-out pizza for dinner. I told my husband I’d place the order for an “Old priest and a young priest.” He said that sounded fine to him and when would I be home?

What did I mean by this (I am explaining for my kids so they don’t have questions after I am gone) phrase?

I meant a large and a small pizza. The “priest” reference comes from the book, “The Exorcist.” It has no relation to pizza whatsoever. Or toppings. Just for the record.

More than thirty years ago my husband was filming in his Uncle’s backyard. He was taking in the sights of the garden and his Uncle cleaning the pool. This was back when the video camera, sitting on your shoulder, weighed more than a cinder block. And everyone wonders why they’re now getting their shoulders replaced?

On tape, he has his Uncle’s elderly mother-in-law leaning over the raised deck, asking in her Kathryn Hepburn voice, “Is the pool going okay?”

We have been using that phrase ever since. I’ll bring up the window sash (no matter what he’s doing) and yell, “Is the pool going okay?”

For us, it just means, “Is everything okay?”

So, as I write this, still with some unanswered questions, I ask of you, “Is the pool going okay?”

I do hope it is. That’s not questionable.

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