Celebrate!

Happy belated St. Patty’s Day. This holiday reminds me to wear green. That’s pretty much it. But then I got to Chicago and realized how much I was missing out. Damn, that city knows how to party it up and turn green. That is definitely the place to be…at least in America.

Today begins the fourth week of Lent; I’m still going strong. Nixing the anger in place of happiness and consistently going to Church. I was surprised at how inspiring I found the homily. They’re usually hit or miss. The priest started out with the following story.

There was a little girl who claimed that Jesus appeared to her several times. After the bishop heard this, he went to visit the girl. She told the bishop about the conversations that she and Jesus had. Everything she said seemed plausible. But the skeptical bishop wanted more proof. He told the girl that next time Jesus appeared to her, to ask him what the bishop had confessed the last time he went to confession. She agreed. A month later, the bishop got a call from the girl. Jesus had appeared to her. The bishop went to the girl’s home. “Did you do what I told you? Did you ask Jesus what I confessed the last time I went to confession?” The girl nodded. “So what did he say?”

“Jesus said, ‘I forgot.’ “

It took me a while to get it, but the point of the story and the rest of the priest’s homily is that Jesus holds no grudges. He doesn’t remember when we make mistakes. Forgiving means to forgive completely with no expectations…no expectation to be treated any better, no expectation for an apology. Absolute forgiveness.

The priest ended with an African song. He actually sang it!

Jesus came to court today.
Case dismissed.
Case dismissed.

Jesus came to court today.
Case dismissed.
Case dismissed.

Woo!!!

Tomorrow is the feast of Saint Joseph, Mary’s husband and the father of Jesus. This is a widely-celebrated feast around the world, particularly in Italy where they celebrate the feast as La Festa di San Giuseppe. It’s important to me because I went to St. Joseph Elementary, then on to St. Joseph Notre Dame. This holiday is part of my roots.