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.

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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.”

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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.

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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…

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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.

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“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.

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The “Carry On” God

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

baggage-suitcase_244x242It’s the smaller bag that you saves you from $15. to 20.00 dollars when you carry it with you on the plane.  It’s the smaller bag that contains only a part of your stuff.  The rest of your stuff is stuffed somewhere else; you’re not sure where but trust that it’s somewhere close by.

How much of our small lives is God a “carry on,” a sizable bite of the bigger elusive apple. I guess when a deity is so large that naturally we small people would make God the same size.  It’s convenient but not very religious.  Our “Carry On God” (COG) seems to be at our beckon call even when this deity doesn’t respond with  our”yes.”  We have the same dimensions of this COG, it seems to vary from airline to airline but generally it’s in the vicinity of 21 by 14.  It’s amazing to watch folks board and how they stretch that mandatory size to include things that they hold in the other hand like smaller bags, flowers or boxes.  (You wonder what’s left in their homes when they board airplanes!)  If we could stretch our deity beyond ourselves the price definitely is no longer around $17.00.  The price grows higher because the size increases.

In our place of prayer, wherever that may be, can the COG enlarge beyond a limiting size?  There are petitions and there are prayers.  Petitions deal with family members’ needs, that the neighbor moves out and that the promised raise becomes true.  Beyond the COG are petitions for peace, harmony, end of violence and a growing litany that breaks the COG boundary.  Prayers center around this great gift of life while knowing something bigger in size awaits us.  Prayers are the gratitudes, thankfulnesses, or simply being in quiet with this bigger than COG we’ve carried on the plane.

“Made in the image and likeness of God,” is how scripture describes ourselves.  Two important words that point to the fact that we are not God.  Both words come close but not quite.  Infinite doesn’t describe our limited home whatever its size so we’ve naturally reduced God to a size we can handle.  There’s the old joke where God wants to “call home” a man who happens to be on an airplane along with 278 other people.  Does God do what God wanted at the time or wait for the “between flights” time in the men’s room?  Bad joke but message sent.

If you’ve followed my little COG story you would notice that the center of attention has been us.  Petition and prayer reverses itself with God as now the center (God’s got the bigger bag) and us as responders and listeners.  The beauty of any religion or belief is the making bigger of someone or something else and then placing ourselves in perspective.

We’ve tucked away our carry on bag above us while all the time there’s our bigger bag full of stuff that is stuffed somewhere else; we’re not sure where but trust that it’s somewhere close by.

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“Just”

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

indexWords have multiple meanings but how about one that just means time, lowliness, righteousness and precision.

“Just Married” noisily trails the overpriced limo that takes you to a garden for pictures where your wedding never took place.  “I’m just a housewife,” says the mom we all miss these days of daycare centers.  “It is right and just” that we should do the right thing but often find ourselves choosing the opposite.  “I just called to say ‘I love you'” sings Stevie Wonder, just in the nick of time of time which is just what he needed to say to his love.

It’s not that I have a lot to say it’s just that I think it is just of you to just stick in there and just be yourself in spite of the just person you think yourself to be when you are only just you.

Just in case I forget, I just wanted to share my one word with you and hope you just take it for what it’s worth and let me just end in a just manner.

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What is Sin These Days?

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

sin-clipart-A_Black_and_White_Cartoon_Man_Shunning_Sin_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_100704-231354-508053“Don’t judge,” I’m sternly told about someone having three kids with no husband or no wife.  “You just don’t understand” is the statement given to level off off all kinds of behavior.  “You’re just wrong” is my dismissal when a conversation gets sensitive  or personal.

Judging, understand and being wrong dismisses centuries long definitions of sin.  You simply (and happily) cannot commit a sin any longer.  It’s wonderful how this sin-thing was resolved.  We did it all by ourselves in our own little worlds influenced by others and questioned by none.  I think the only sin remaining is murder and that can be justified in more ways than the direction of the bullet or the knife.

I’m not one to impose sin upon another or condemn behavior, as much as priests may like to do, but it still intrigues me these days in our country how sin has been reduced to something that someone else has done but never nailed to me.

Jesus died for a reason and the reason is idolatry which is defined not always as another god but more powerfully making ourselves a gods of sorts.

Growing up sin abounded in our lives.  Missing your “morning prayer” was a sin, whatever that morning prayer was supposed to be.  A burp in church caused you to mention it in your next confession.  Too strict and rigid?  Too outdated?  Yet a slander or speculation about someone on Facebook or in conversation is considered information and therefore not sinful, if indeed inaccurate or wrong.  The broke mother who shoplifts for her children is sinless unless she does it for herself.  The drunk driver who kills another person is sinless because his wife just died.

What’s a sin these days?  Corporations who do their own thing but never held accountable?  Those are the easiest to call sinful because no single person (or persons) are ever accountable.

It’s a comfortable time for us.  We’ve conveniently eradicated the cancer of our faith.  There is no more personal sin from our habits, behaviors or lives.  It’s the other person who seems to fail, it’s that person who I don’t like who has a problem.

When you are god you can do and think all kinds of things.

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Jesus: “I Am the Bread of Life”

Posted on August 1, 2015 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

indexThere’s an episode of M.A.S.H. where Hawkeye is under house arrest, in his tent.  Frank Burns mockingly stands at the entrance and hops in and out saying, “I can go in and I can go out.”  He does this enough to really frustrate Hawkeye.

That’s our society and that is our Church.  It has never been “either/or” but it is only “both/and.”  Our world is not “either or” society or Church.  The U.S. should never be a Christian nation tolerating Jews, Muslims, Mormons or any other religious flavor.  If you’d like a religious nation, move to Iran.

Our society only works with “both and” because we need and support each other.  The Church is never always right and our society is never always right.  We can all think of numerous examples to illustrate each.

What does our society yearn for each day?  Unity, harmony, equality as best as we can acquire.  The Church prays for these everyday.

The Catholic Church in all its wonder, mystery and powers uses what to illustrate its great salvation history?  Simple stuff.  Stuff we take for granted everyday.  Stuff of the earth.  We then take that stuff and make it greater, meaningful and “full of grace.”  How more basic can you get then water?  In the Church, water baptizes and propels you into this world with all the blessings God can garner.  Water welcomes you and alerts you that you are about to enter a holy place.  Water is the humanity that is mixed with the wine’s divinity.  It’s a quick priestly gesture but without it the Church would be left without purpose.  Jesus tells us today that it’s in the bread.  It’s in the bread.  It is not in some magical formula that the Church invented to illustrate Christ in our world.  It is not a mysterious potion that we would have concocted to show the universal love of God.  We would have gotten it wrong.  It is in the bread.  That silly afterthought wheat that sandwiches our ham, turkey, cheese, peanut butter and anything else we can think of to place between that silly afterthought wheat.  Bread.

The Church can say the same about oil, incense, a candle, words, musical notes, cloth, imperfect priests (well, most of them) and you because there is no Church without you.

The current crop of U.S. Bishops keep lamenting our “secular” society as though it should be a “religious” society.  How wrong they are.  We need a “secular” society to house all the wonderfully diverse and too frequent sad mishaps that occur on a daily basis.  Without a secular society you wouldn’t need a morning paper with all its gossip and current events.  Without a Church there would be no vehicle or container to inform and influence society with something always greater and more rewarding than itself.  A society looks only after itself and a good Church always looks outside itself to the most neediest, those most hurting, all those left behind, that child in the womb, that immigrant who needs a place to stay, that unemployed worker who wants to work and that teenager who wants to know a little more about Jesus.

We don’t hop in and out of society or the Church.  We live within each – affecting and responding to each other.

Bread, water, oil, candles and imperfect folks.  We take them from a “secular” society and make them sacred through the Church.  We then, and here’s the important part, send them out to do something good and beneficial in society for the good of both society and the Church.  Because you see if you stay in the Church you become isolated like a monk.  If that’s your life, go for it.  But if you live in society and ground yourself in the Church then you are a disciple, a breadwinner because you’ve eaten the simple bread of society and have recognized it as Jesus, the Christ.

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