Time For A Break

Five years ago, almost to the day, the My Thursday Thoughts had its beginnings.  Since then, there have been 52 x 5, or 260 Thursdays.  That means 260 MTT postings without hardly a break.  The first year, 2013-14, it consisted of a Facebook posting every Thursday morning for my Facebook friends to read.  Then, four years ago this month, it continued as a formal blog on Blogspot.com.

Someone asked me recently why I do it.  My answer is that I simply believe that I have been called to do it.   Perhaps it is in response to Pope St. John Paul II’s call for the “New Evangelization.”  In any event, I have felt compelled to try to get relatives and friends to start thinking more about their eternal destiny while at the same time trying to improve on my own personal shortcomings as a devoted Catholic.  It feels good to do it.  I feel I am doing something good and constructive in my retirement.  Now, I’ve given it some thought and decided to take a 6-week break.  I’ll be back on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, with a plan for the future of this blog.  I sincerely thank my faithful readers whoever you are.

This coming Saturday, October 13, is the 101^st anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun that occurred in Fatima, Portugal, on October 13, 1917.  This is when devoted Catholics like myself believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the sixth consecutive month to the three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, with a message for all humanity on earth.  The message was to let us all know how important it is to pray.  She prophesied that serious wars and other calamities were on the horizon unless we changed our ways.  She wanted us to pray the rosary daily.  To prove that her apparitions were for real, she promised that a miracle would occur during her sixth and final appearance on that October 13.  It was the so-called “Miracle of the Sun.”  The whole story is summarized on Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima.  Please take a look if you have the urge. 

I’ll see you back here on Thanksgiving Day.  In the meantime, you may take a look at the archive for this blog and read some of the 203 past postings which are available on the Web site if you have that urge.  God bless you, and have a great Feast of All Saints Day on November 1!

Divine Providence

Have you ever looked back on your life and realized a particular moment or event that was truly life-changing?   Perhaps it was a moment of decision, such as when you were faced with two or more career paths.  Or perhaps it was when an acquaintance who seemed to fall out of the sky and into your life just to give you some advice that was perfect for you.  Or perhaps it was a place that you happened to encounter that was so extraordinarily interesting that it caused you to change your outlook on life.  You look back on it and tell yourself that you would be in a totally different career or would have a totally different belief system if not for that moment or event – a so-called “turning point” in your life.  Perhaps you have thought about how miserable you would be if you had gone in an opposite direction at that critical moment.

I’ve looked back on my own life many times and I have counted many, many such moments.  Where would I be if my father hadn’t died in that farming accident when I was 10 years old?  Where would I be if I hadn’t met up with that graduate student in college who convinced me to go on to graduate school despite my academic shortcomings as an undergraduate?  Where would I be if I hadn’t gone to that picnic where I met the woman who was perfect for me?  Where would I be if hadn’t happened to see the advertisement for that job that came open in Nebraska that fit me like a glove?  Where would I be if I hadn’t moved to that Catholic diocese in Nebraska that suited me beyond words?  And these are just some of the examples!  Yes, where would I be?  I would have to say that I probably would have been miserable for most of my life.

I believe that God had a plan for me, that he accompanied me along my life’s journey, and that He was there for me at every turn.  Once, I thought I was interested in an attractive job that came open in Washington, D.C.  I thought I was well-qualified and mailed in an application, being very excited to hear back.  I waited and waited.  Nothing.  Then I happened to run into the person that would review that applications and do the hiring.  When I asked her about it, she told me that she unfortunately never saw my application and had hired someone else.  I was devastated.  But I realized later that it was all in God’s plan.

It’s called Divine Providence.  Simply put, it is defined as God’s wise and fatherly care for His creation.  It has been called God’s blueprint for his creation and for individual human beings.  In a Catholic dictionary that I own, I found the following:  “Divine Providence is universal in that all events, even the most personal decisions of human beings, are part of God’s eternal plan.  It is infallibly certain because the ultimate purpose that God has for the universe will not fail.  And it is immutable because God Himself cannot change.”

Every day, I feel close to God and blessed beyond words.  I know that he is there for me and I thank Him every day.  Indeed, where would I be?  Today, I pray that you will come to know God intimately, to know that He cares deeply about you and where you will spend your eternity.  I also pray that you will take the action required for your eternal salvation so that you can be with Him for all eternity.  Amen!