A Parish Mission.

I just landed a Lenten mission for Saint Patrick's Church, Columbus for the week before Saint Patrick's Day.  I think a good thing to do would be to emphasize Saint Patrick's role as the one who brought the Gospel to the Irish people.  One thing to do would be to emphasize the difference between a life of faith and a life of ethics.  Pagans can have ethics; only Christians can have conscious faith.  Time to work on the sacraments of initiation.March 11 through 16 .

Check the sugar...

It really helps me to read my health contract every so often - there are little things I forget.  I should be checking my blood sugar every morning.  I confess I have not been doing that daily, although I do so regularly.  Every time I have in fact checked, the numbers have been perfect.   I should, however, be checking more frequently.  We will see.

To Think About

My blood sugar this morning is a perfect 100, but the weight is up to 235.  I know I am carrying undigested food from yesterday, but the movement up is still somewhat disconcerting.   I leave this in God's hands.  At the same time, I think I need to be more attentive to portion control.  I cleared out the last of some roast pork last night to go with my salad, and it was perhaps more than 3 ounces,  more like 5.  I need to be stricter about keeping to the plan.

This week I put into progress a stable pattern of exercise.  Rowing machine, Total gym, walking.

But I need to locate the blasted day planner!

Stressing

So, I was a little stressed today because I was about to meet with the Provincial, who was to be in town.  I woke up with a fasting blood sugar of 112.  That's two points over the ideal.  I notice that stress seems to affect my blood sugar more than food does.  There is really no reason for me to feel stress with him, as he has been nothing but kind and understanding with me.

As it happened, the Provincial called me later to say that he could not make it today, but would see me Wednesday instead.

My morning weight was 233 pounds.  That's 6 pounds down from June 7.  I am continuing to lose weight on my program, but much more slowly than on my program before.  I need to take time for exercise several times each week, now that I have moved my things, and am beginning to settle into my new life here.  My weight has not varied that much in the last two weeks, but feels like a plateau.  But it's all up to God how fast I get into shape.   I have been putting on muscle with the wearing of armor again - so, muscle is denser than adipose tissue.

I have to give communion at the 6:30 Mass this evening, so I will catch an OA meeting on Friday.  I have put my day planner down somewhere and can't find it.  So the blog will have to do for now.

Continuing..

Today my fasting blood sugar was 104, and my weight 229.6!   This is like being in college again.

Without the craziness.  Just new crazy.

I just need to take things One Day at a Time.

I have an OA meeting shortly.

Back again..

So I'm beginning to start this blog again.   Much has changed since my last entry.  I have been able to take a sabbatical for my health, and so now have  fasting blood sugars which are ideal for a normal person without diabetes, and my weight has fallen from 324 pounds last September to 234 pounds as of this morning.  My weight loss continued but slowed since I left my program.  I'm hoping to get back on track as I add exercise to the mix.

On the spiritual side I was reading today fom a sermon by Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which he gave at Pentecost at the Abbey of the Dormition.  Here are some excerpts:

“The finality of Easter is not that Jesus is risen and that he returns to the Father, but that His life dwells within us. ...

" The Spirit is a gift that does not remain outside the person, but enters within…"

"  The Spirit is not simply something extra, an accessory, but it is precisely what makes us live.”

I was thinking as I read this how wonderfully as to think of the Holy Spirit's sacramental revelation to us in the sign of oil in Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders.  Oil enters the skin;  and thus signifies not only the healing power of the Holy Spirit as a medicine and a saving salve for what ails us, but is something that becomes part of our very being.  And this is just one of the ways in which he manifests his purpose to us:  as light, heat, fire, the potential fire which is oil, water, wind, and breath. Without him, we grow blind, cold, dry, directionless, and die spiritually long before our bodies finally fail.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the lives of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love!