Refrigerator, Gallbladder Surgery and Lent

Last week, our refrigerator started making the loudest noise. The repairmen said the compressor was failing and the cost to replace it would be about the same as a new refrigerator, so we are going to get a new one. Unfortunately, the one we wanted (a Whirlpool Gold side-by side) was unavailable right away, so we are still waiting. It was scheduled to be delivered this weekend, HOWEVER....


James had to be taken to the ER the other day and was in great pain. Turns out he had gallstones and an extremely inflamed gallbladder. They discovered this Thursday but were unable to remove it until Friday am. He is recovering nicely, but still in the hospital. We hope for him to get out by lunch tomorrow. He's eating solid foods and walking around and has no pain with painkillers. He's also on IV antibiotics, which is why they want him to stay another day.

Now, on to Lent. I decided that I would attend daily mass for my Lenten offering. There are services at my parish at 6:30 am and at 5:15 pm. I am opting for the earlier one to ensure that I am able to attend. I get home right after the girls are getting up. I did miss Friday because James wasn't here, but will get back to it on Monday morning. The sun is rising while I am at Mass, and it's nice looking through the stained glass windows at the sun rising. The services are short and simple, but I feel as if I am getting more out of them that way. When the priests or deacons are taking less time on a homily, they certainly work on packing it with meaning.


The other day, the gospel reading (Mt 6:7-15) discussed the Lord's Prayer. Deacon George spoke about the difficulty in translating the line "Give us this day our Daily Bread." It was translated based on context clues. About 100 years ago, a market list for a housewife was found in the ancient Greek. The translation for one of the items was "enough bread for the day" and the Greek words were the same as those in the ancient scripts with the Lord's Prayer in them. So, what we are asking God for is to give us enough. Not extra, just enough. Here we all are, trying to get EXTRA, when there are people out there who don't have enough. It really makes a person think....