Walt, David, Chet & Harry

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

WalterCronkite2No, these four guys don’t own an ice cream chain.  Growing up these four guys informed a nation every night.  As much of the “worthy” news was gathered and delivered in thirty minutes; with fewer advertisements than we have today.

Trust was  built because we didn’t know these men.  If Chet was cheating on taxes or his wife we would never have known.  Walt was the solid voice because of his fatherly presence and deep voice (taking off his glasses for effect also helped.)  When Walt questioned the Vietnam War even the president said, “If Walter is against us…”  The man could say “Hi” to you and you’d bow in reverence.  Good television persona or an earned trust?  The latter.

Four guys crystallized world news and news they felt had an impact on our lives either now or soon.  News delivered with one steady camera, no graphics, certainly no laughing or mocking because it is the “news” after all and never belittling anyone because of an agenda.

We’d let the B/W TV warm up and for thirty minutes were captured by the day’s events.  Commentary, if provided, was crisp and clean with an extra effort toward balance of pending issues.  Eric was Walt’s key man.  NBC years ago tried Bill Moyer but it didn’t work.  ABC with Harry didn’t need commentary because he’s last name was “Reasoner,” he had “reason” in his name.

I think the nation survived well through their many years on the air.  We’re here because of them.  Robert and Jim were “over there” on PBS but that one was one hour and they talked too much.  (I was young, what can I say?)

Today with the internet, hundreds ferret out for us the news of the day for our digestion.  What are we digesting?  I have no idea.  A website instantly can tell us what “side” they’re on by their lead story.  Do we stick with a couple of sites we like because they’re “liberal” or do we seek out the opposing opposition because we like what they tell us?  The news is still wrapped because someone somewhere is composing and putting before us what he/she thinks we need to know.

I’ve lost a sense of what is “news” anymore.  A baby drowned by her mother down South is a tragedy but is that national news?  Hillary’s emails, as dumb as it sounds, is “news” because of her aspirations.

It’s not that I’m lazy but I miss the condescension of all the available news to be winnowed down to thirty minutes to help me understand the world both globally and nationally.

These four old guys did it for me and I miss them all..and they presented it seriously.  No laughing when reporting the news.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sts. Barnes & Noble

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

stack-of-booksChurch.  It’s that place that your parents forced you to attend because they believed it was salvation for their children and they were not to be disappointed.  After all, salvation of their children hinged on their own or so they were taught.  Selfish or altruistic, who knows.

My Church (capital “C”) taught me that there is no salvation outside of it (or “her” as the Catholic Church likes to describes it(her)self because Jesus is a male and married to the it(or her).  Most other major religions boost the same acclaimed end in their certitude about the great mystery of the life after this one.  (Does Kool Aid come to mind?)

“Pray, pay and obey” is the organized religion’s joke about itself when it’s the first one that only matters.  Pray.  Recognize something greater than yourself and then do something about it.  Be strongly rooted in your life but own that your roots belong to someone else.  Look at everyone each day and see a connection because they are a part of your life as much as you are a part of yours.

A friend of mine told me that he spends quiet time on a Sunday morning at Barnes and Noble.  I looked the two of them up in my Catholic saints book but couldn’t seem to locate either one of them.  It was enlightening to be enlightened by a personal response from him to a divine call.  And it’s only a book store.  One hour or three?  Doesn’t matter when the quality is measured against evaluating the past week and renewing the new week to come.

It’s not the same as my rote ritual which was created to be such.  The repeating of repeating words are intended to bring about that necessary future salvation.

Most people believe in God but would never agree on who He/She is.  Most people would admit to praying in an anonymous survey because they want to give the correct answer even if that answer isn’t practiced.

I stand before hundreds of people on a Sunday morning repeating and repeating in hopes of an eternal resolution for them and my good friend sits quietly at Barnes and Noble.  Who’s right?  Who’s enjoying salvation?  Eternally, I have no idea but he’s response to life’s chaos and choices is a “time out” time at a book store on a Sunday morning while I’m trying to please the masses through the Mass.  I believe that his salvation is achieved right now in his resolve and resolutions while we Catholics are still waiting for ours.

Right?  Wrong?  I wonder.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Pull of Your Ear & A Theme Song

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

51ZaUqmr8tL._SY300_If you’re under 60, just ignore this because you’ll either be depressed or think it’s dumb.  Over 60 folk may find some solace.

You don’t think of your end until it draws near and I don’t mean death.  Retirement can mean a good 20 or more years of “ending.”  The thought of six, seven or more years until that time has an ominous feel to it as though we’ll become a different person; we’ll digress from “is” to “was” in the blink of the midnight’s minute.  I know friends who couldn’t wait for that ball to drop –  says something about their jobs.  If your job is not a job but a career than that passing minute while you sleep redefines your life.

“Was it worth it?” is our persistent minds asking the worth of its length.  30 or 40 years of doing something ought to amount to something?  Whether 1 or 12 jobs during that time deserves a recognition of some sort and it doesn’t matter if you walked out the door alone on a Friday afternoon or drove home in a tux after a farewell party with 200 people.  (The former is more likely the case.)

Some of the “was’s” have stories where students or associates return to thank them for whatever affected their lives because of the “was’s.  They are heartwarming and meaningful.

Retirement often means retelling episodes and escapades as though they happened yesterday in spite of the passing  forty years. The stories can be recounted again and once again in an effort to validate or prove once again that the stories happened.  (I hope I don’t do that but instead recall an episode of mine in thirty seconds or less.)

Transitions suck because they change what we are.  I know many people who remain an “is” in retirement and I know even more who became “was” because the “was” becomes the “is” of their lives.  I feel sorry for them but act as if I’ve heard the story the first time.

When that “is” door closes behind you, you have no idea (and will never know) whose lives you’ve touched.  The “is” or the “was” is up to you to simply appreciate the adventure and mystery that unfolded for you during those many years.  My dentist told me that a bartender at his club told him how much a priest named, “Fr. Joe” meant to him in returning to the Catholic Church.  My dentist told me that I should know this because he knows that it’s me.

Whether it was me or not my title here says it all.  Carol Burnett pulled  her ear at the end of each show to tell a relative of her love and Bob Hope’s theme song was “Thanks for the Memories.”

The rest is up to me and the stories I wish to tell either as a “was” or an a “is.”

Posted in Retirement | Tagged | Leave a comment

Math & Music

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

6a00d8341bf67c53ef016762dd7cc4970b-800wiHow can two completely opposite disciplines combine?  It may have already occurred to you but for me it was a surprising union.  Here’s a blah, geeky definition of math,

the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically.

Isn’t that exciting and make you want to get up and dance the night away?  Yet that is what math does.  Without mathematical wonders that most of us ignored in school produces the structured music that allows us to dance without falling on our feet.

Structure?  Who’d associated that with the strong feelings that music oozes forth on our first date or “our” wedding song or the song you hear thirty years later that evokes a memory as though it was yesterday.

How did Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart and Spanky and Our Gang pull it off by tidying together two such strong and diverse disciplines?  Is it the melody that fills the head first and then the structuring or vise versa?  Passion or numbers.  I’m told that Paul McCartney can’t read music so it must be true.  Or is it firstly that all rigid, rock-strong structure that presents us with melodies that make us cry, laugh, or hum along with.  And what about humming?  Does our shower time need to be structured?  Do those loosely hum-able, wet mumbles need to be placed on five bland lines complete with sharps and flats?    That song that fills your head for some reason throughout the day has a complete and utterly unbending system to it that seems to defy the good feeling you receive by reliving it.

I officiated at a wedding with a young couple in their 20’s.  One’s a astrophysicist and the other is a nuclear physicist.  I began the Mass saying that the three of us will never compete for a job but I hope that today their making beautiful music together.

Opposites do attract and their harmonies can last generations if not centuries.  I have no idea about its structure but I love the result – melodies singing about love, life, unions, divorce or just enjoying a Sunday morning.

Posted in Spirituality | Leave a comment

Me, I & Myself

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

687474703a2f2f6d656469612e63756c747572656d61702e636f6d2f63726f702f33382f38332f383030783630302f4d655f6d7973656c665f492e6a7067“Me” wondered why “me” clothes were getting tighter; “me” thought it was age creeping (or widening) “me” body but I uncovered that it’s the “me”self that causes this slow inflation.  But more about “me”self later.

Life always begin with the “me.”  It is the “me” that needs tending to until I become the “me” as in “What’s in it for ‘me'” which fortunately can only be controlled by “me”self.  The “I” of us is our public persona or our working-hat which carries us through life and takes care of the needed money.  The “my”self needs to be nurture and cultivated.  I don’t think “my”self can be taught but I believe it can be witnessed in others which can influence us.

The easiest on my threesomes is the “me.”  Its agenda is clear and its territory is cleanly marked.  It has no doors but only one window that only looks back at “me.”

We say that with age comes wisdom but that’s a fanciful attribute attributed to older folks when we don’t know what else to say about them.  We figure that since they lived so long they must have learned something but we also know that history repeats itself (say “again” twice, please).  We can accumulate all kinds of knowledge but without wisdom or its ability to recognize opposing views and then synthesize them into an opinion – we are just stuck being smart people as “me.”  The easiest part of life (“me”) can carry us through life and even influence society and self-interest rules and regulations.

The awareness of “my”self emerging has loads of doors and many windows that assimilate and capture as much of life as I can absorb.  The analogy I’ve always liked is we are sponges that soak up all kinds of information – especially these supposed “information days” – but when do we squeeze out an informed and balanced opinion that isn’t biased on “me” but now “my”self?

The “I” sees us through life’s mechanics.  The “me” is the one who remembers to take a shower in the morning and then remember throughout the day that there is no other number 1 in the world.  The “my”self is the broadening that makes sense of this often senseless world.  The “my”self is the keeper of what’s important and hoping others consider them as important.  The “my”self is the peaceful balance between the work-a-day “I” and the selfish “me.”

The “my”self is the 82 year old who wants to learn the history of China or how a clock works or takes up painting landscape while the “me” is the one counting the remaining pennies and then “I” wonders where all the time went.

I like “my”self more than I like “me.”  Or should I say “myself likes myself;” it’s not good English but I think you get the point.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Religion & Choices

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

starbucks_choicesTry ordering a cup of coffee today and hear what happens.  It’s not easy.

Decaf or regular, black, ground, roasted or blended, whole, two-percent, skim, soy, and in some places, organic milk. gluten free, sugar or not?   Cappuccino, mocha, latte or eight other names I can’t pronounce.  Small, medium or large?  If you’re experienced you’d just say, “I would like a vanilla latte made with skim milk, two shots of espresso, with whip cream on it. Oh and I’d like that in a tall size.”

Religion has been reduced to a cup of coffee.  The varieties of religion, times of services, the music served, the sermons heard, the kind of folks surrounding you, the “how much push for money,” the educational needs of your kids for you to be in “this church” all add up to a cup of anxiety-driven caffeine.

These are the days when choices abound when it comes to beliefs and values.  Some give up their parent’s church simply because of that. Beliefs and values.  Others may stay in that church simply because of, well, that.  The Biblical Joshua addresses all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.”

If you are challenging yourself and questioning what is important to you then I applaud and will walk with you the whole way.  If it’s simply convenience and comfort for you than enjoy your coffee cup and church of your choice.

The present crop of U.S. Bishops use the term “individualistic” a lot these days. A part of religion definition is conformity but true membership needs to be a conscious decision.  I’m not sure of the bishops’ context unless they means being selfish, otherwise they are off.  To be an “individual” is the goal of every human life.  If you’re 40 years old and in a Catholic Church because mom taught you that, then there’s plenty of fire exists.  The sacrament of Confirmation is still given way too early (8th grade or high school junior) while mom’s words are still clearly heard.  It is not the faith of the family that is transmitted but the family’s faith.  And that needs to be owned by each person in her or his own way and time.

Are our lives of Jacob’s choosing or is it God’s granting?  Or perhaps a little of each?

All churches have a kernel of truth within them if they stand the test of time.  I don’t know any pagans but I’ve grown to appreciate pagans who were (and are) not who we define them to be.  Their connection with the earth and something beyond themselves is the forerunner of every decent church that exists.

Typing away at this, I’m sitting on my porch with my laptop and the rain is falling.  Yet I’m wondering what a supposed “pagan” would be doing about now.  Most likely kneeling in thanksgiving for the gods sending this needed rain?  Knowing that gods exist because there is rain?  Grateful to be in shelter during rains like this?  I don’t know what that means because I’m a Catholic and live in a semi-safe home.  The Catholic Church has borrowed every pagan gesture and action available and simply added “Jesus” to it and that makes it now true and right.  The Lutherans have much to share even if they say they are the “one true church” which Catholics already have copyrighted.

Jesus says, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by my Father.”  As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.  Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?   You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

I love it when people who tell me that they’re confused, unsure or doubting about their faith.  It is never that I will solve their confusion but I encourage it.  Be confused.  Doubt is a gift from the gods.  Unsure means that you’re a thinking individual (there’s that word again) and questioning this or that to help you decide the “this or that” in your life.  Be a wondering person about the “this’s and that’s of life.”  Wonder away and never settle down.  Wonder until you see the white light and then wonder no more.  The rain helps the earth whether it comes to us from the “One True God” or the “gods.”  The Jews wisely taught us that all questions only lead to other questions and then other questions until you settle with what you’re looking for but still not be absolutely sure.

I don’t want to stand and preach to a bunch of Catholics who bought Catholicism “hook, line and sinker.”  I want to stand in front of a bunch of them who’ll wrestle with me about choosing and then enjoying a strong cup of coffee; black.”

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Cats and Their Staff (Me)

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Quiet, no peaceful.  Content, no blissful.  Settled, no sedated.  Attentive?  No, but watchful.  My two cats.  Try sleeping for 23 hours a day and see how you feel!  Just try smelling the same furniture for 11 years and see if there’s a new scent to be gathered and retained.

Their satisfaction is simply a daily supply of water, a crumb-filled place to poop and dry food for the rest of their lives.  An enclosed surrounding that suits them just fine, keeping their seemingly high anxiety set at low.  A petting is only allowed when it is beckoned by them and they will also determine its length.   One of them uncannily knows when I’m typing or on the phone as his cue to jump up to be a part of it.  The AT&T guy comes to fix stuff and the other one hides until his scent exits.  The uncanny cat just plops himself in the middle of the AT&T’s work space begging to be stepped upon so he can yell that he is present.  (Sounds like an aunt I knew.)

But it’s the sleep.  It is the sleep that prompts my little diddy.  With the head gently resting on something contour and the body at rest; if there is a picture of blissful it is truly that.  Dreams?  I don’t it.  Birds they can’t have?  It’s not going to happen.  A tasteful mouse?  Not in my house but if I had mice they’d be the pleasure of these two sleepy but now awake cats.

It’s all instinct, I’m told when the female wakes me up in the morning (no alarm clock needed) and the male first greets me when I arrive home from work.  He’ll watch a movie with me in my lap and sleep through the whole thing (even a Bruce Willis thriller!) and she’ll jump up periodically to let me know she’s still alive.

I know when to touch them and when to back off.  After all, I’m staff.  I live in their house although it seems I’m left with all the bills.

They take nothing for granted but except whatever they want.  One surprising treat at 8:20 p.m. one night needs to now be a nightly ritual.  No exceptions, even if I come home at 10:30, it’s still 8:20 to them.

Being single, they are great and wonderful companions.  I wouldn’t trade them for a dog any day.  (Wisconsin winters are not dog friendly at 6:30 a.m.)

This has been too many words to emphasize the bliss and complete peace that she now shows me watching her as I type this on my porch on an quiet August night.  I can only dream of a piece of that bliss.  But then again, she can’t dream…but I can.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How Long Is A “Moment?”

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.'s avatarSoulful Muse

TheMomentHorizon2It’s got to be in the top three of my favorite words.  It is timeless but controlled.   Limitless but has an end.  It always has a specific beginning but you never know the end.

The worst of all “moments” is the nurse’s departing comment, “The doctor will be with you in a moment.”  “Oh good,” I say to myself as that good feeling melts into wondering if he’s reading a medical journal to hone up on my medical procedure.  I’ve already read the Pain Barometer poster and the poster of what a wonderful hospital this is and the cheesy, tranquil picture I’d never place in my home.  I’ve seen the stuff that he’s about to use on me but refuse to examine it for fear of knowing too much.

So, what’s left while lying on your back, half naked and staring up at the ceiling tiles and refusing to count…

View original post 360 more words

Posted in Spirituality | Leave a comment

There Is No Heaven

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

sGXGLk4All right, we finally admit that our charade is finally over.  It was centuries of fun while it lasted but as the Wizard of Oz realized, the curtain was drawn and we all saw the levels and smoke that created a place of eternal bliss and peace.  It is that distant place where you would see all the people you knew and loved in this life including that aunt who always criticized you and now is blissfully seated next to you for eternity.  (And you still don’t measure up!)

Heaven.  It’s the far off place that the here is supposed to prepare you for the there which no one knows about but seems to know a lot about.  Heaven.  It is full of candy if you’ve died young or it has handrails all around the clouds if you’re older.  Heaven.  In our minds we’ve created and recreated it.  When you’re older that destination takes on a new importance because you realize the train is about to leave the station but you’re not sure when it will.  That “ready, set” part of your life is ready to set itself and then “go.”

What did your hopes and dreams of heaven produce here during your lowly time among the rest of us?  What was withheld in this earthly journey and what was yearned for in a place known but unknown to you?  The “produce” of your time here is innumerable as long as you talk to people instead of reading the newspaper.  The “produce” was kindness extended when it wasn’t called for or offering your chair to an older person or that summer in Africa to see what it’s like to be not only poor but utterly.  If these and many others were done in preparation for this imaginary heaven then, still, kudos to you for the effort regardless of your heavenly motives.  The “withheld?”  If withheld was an angry statement toward someone – rethought and then forgotten, a company scheme that would hurt people which you bowed out of, stopping at that yellow light to safely get to work, taking the effort to address your lethargy at work; how many other “withhelds” in preparation for what might not occur when you die.

I’ve always liked the Jimmeny Cricket line, “doing good for goodness sake.”  It can be said two different ways with emphasis either on the first or second phrase.  I like “for goodness sake.”  Reversed it says, “for the sake of goodness.”  No other reason.  If there is a heaven then so be it and if there is not a heaven then what a great creation it was to make living here in this difficult world a little more livable and friendly and gracious and loving and caring and kind.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged | Leave a comment

“How Nice It Must Be…”

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

black-white-portrait-young-man-13825062How nice it must be to stroll down the street with your girlfriend’s hand in yours.  The world seems to be yours as a glance from someone evokes a quick wink.  Your sunglasses are in place but quickly can be tossed to the top of your curly black hair.  It’s the ease that you take for granted, a friendly smile from a stranger when you already know how you look, your nonchalant stride that you’ve copied from your father and now fits you well.

The oyster is open for you.  You truly believe that your life is difficult and talk about it often in dinner conversations at overpriced restaurants with friends who look like you.  Your knowledge of the world is the mirror that begins your day and ends with a final look for that pending zit.  You ponder with yourself and friends why the life of others is not like yours as though you’re able to shape the world when in fact you can.

You find yourself easily placing people into convenient places that conveniently places you outside of them.  It only takes you 1.5 seconds before you’ve weighed, measured and judged someone.  You may take a few extra seconds for the sake of grace but you bend back to the 1.5 judgment.  It isn’t that difficult but appears to be necessary to maintain your own self worth and esteem.

You knew where to place Bruce Jenner.  It was a cinch.  Now Bruce’s place needs a new place for you to place him, a place that didn’t exist for you before.  (How many places can we create for people anyway?)

There’s that overweight guy in the coffee shop who surely doesn’t care about himself, there’s a sleazy woman at the counter (her outfit), there’s the old guy with shaky hands having a hard time lifting his coffee cup, there’s a mom in the corner with two kids (“I’m sure there’s no dad involved”), there’s the guy who reads and reads, and that young guy with no visible skin left because his arms tell some kind of story through tattoos, now two guys walk in and they must be gay because of their haircuts and a black guy reads the newspaper and it’s 9:30 a.m. so he must be unemployed and you’re paying for him, a young white couple walk in carrying their newborn and you eagerly smile at them.

“You gotta fight to stay ahead,” you tell yourself every morning.  “If only people knew what I go through each day,” you keep saying to yourself.  Your day come to an end and before bed you check the progress of that pending zit.

Posted in Spirituality | Tagged , | Leave a comment