I slept from 9pm straight to 8am this morning. I woke up and feel good and am ready to hit the road again. Sometimes there are elements from the liturgy of the hours that fit perfectly with each day. Today, this just jumped out at me from the Psalm,
"For you give me joy, Lord, in your creation:
I rejoice in the work of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,
how immeasurably deep your thoughts."
Whew, how perfectly put! I have received much joy in riding through parts of God's creation I have never seen before. Such beauty is the ocean itself. How large it is and how endless it seems. Many have contemplated God by gazing at its vastness. My challenge today will be to keep my gaze on God even as I ride through the Northeastern USA, where there are many crabby drivers that could care less about one motorcycle.
May God be with me today and may you all have a great day! Today, I'll pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the morning, the Rosary in the afternoon, and in the evening I will just be quiet as I pray for guidance, direction, and balance in my life.
Still heavy on my heart is the loss of my friend Nancy Feist. She was a confidant that I came to really trust and rely on for advice and to share bad days with. Because of Nancy's position in the chancery, she was in a unique position to pray for people in need. She would sometimes call my cell and say, "Deacon Patrick, can you pray for someone for me right now?" I would say, "Sure!" Sometimes she would follow that response with a name, but most times there was no name. Discretion was a huge part of Nancy's charism but her heart would often not allow her to keep things totally to herself. I would then joke and say, "is this person bigger than a breadbox?" She would laugh, and say, "Thank you Deacon Pat, I needed to laugh today." Whenever I visited the Chancery, shelby would always let me in back to get/give my hug from Nancy. I could tell by the look on her face how slammed she was sometimes so I would just wave and smile as I left her doorway. She would jump up and come out in the hallway to see me. She always made time for me. I miss her.
I found a text from January 9th of this year from Nancy, and it reads, "FYI... SJ (Saint Joseph) and SM (Saint Mary's) jv girls are in double overtime. Sophie's game will start late, and the gym is electrified!" She loved kids sports and it's not surprising really, that she collapsed at a baseball game. There is another level of communication at play here in Nancy's simple text message. On the surface she's excited about the game and wanting me to see it. On another level, she knows how tough my work schedule is all the time and how my work at the high school can tax me at times. She was letting me know not to rush as Sophie's game would not be starting on time. She was reassuring me that I would not miss it. It was a sweet message sent in love to a train wreck deacon who is always late for stuff. I miss you, Nancy!
Sorry this is all selfish in my musings, but even as we all pray for Nancy and Peter and all of the surviving family, there needs to be time for our own grieving too. Nancy touched so many people deeply with her life/ministry which were the same thing. I did not know her as well as many others who are also hurting. Many in the Chancery are pretty lost at losing their friend. She was a woman who exuded grace and like the saints that have gone on before us, she shows us a way to live in this here and now, and says with her witness, "you can do this!" And so off I go to ride south on I-95 to try...
... I ended up riding through all of Maine, New Hampshire, Mass., New York, and well into PA today for a total of 689 miles. It was all about getting home from this long journey. I stopped in a couple places looking for a place to stay but everything was booked solid from Scranton all the way to Reading. There was a Jehovah Witness convention, of all things, and it was absolutely pouring rain, so all I could do is head south and try again. The storms got worse to the point where I knew I needed off the highway, so I pulled into Hazelton, PA and found a room. I hit the pillow at 11:30pm.
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