Feb.15, 2018.

I don’t remember where we left off but here are a few things that have happened that might be interesting to you. If you get bored, just drop it.

       I think I told you about the accident I had and how I had to go to the police to make a report and get to the insurance company to start the process of getting the money for repairing the car (poor little thing). To make a long story short, the Insurance company declared my vehicle to be a write off so they would either take the car and give me the book value R26,000 and something. Or, I would keep the car and they would give me R15400 and something to repair the car. It won’t be enough but I don’t really have any choice since the R26 ,000 wouldn’t even buy a motorized wheelbarrow.

     In the meantime, On the 2^nd of  Feb. I celebrated with our community (for us Catholics it is the feast of the Presentation---when Jesus’ parents presented Jesus to God and asked a blessing on his life.) when our young men start their novitiate, their year of introduction to the Mariannhill community, and when those who have finished that year, and have asked to join the community, and have been accepted, take their first vows for a year. They will do this 2 or 3 times, for a year at a time till, at the end they take permanent vows. They have plenty of time to get out if they think this isn’t the calling for them. Then the rest of us, old timers, renew our vows. It is a big day and a big celebration.

    In the afternoon a friend took me to the airport to catch a plane for Dubai and from there to Chicago the join the family in celebrating my Aunt Rose’s 100^th birthday. Although it snowed at least a bit every day I was there, it was only just after I left that the really big snow (more than a foot) came down.

     Rose’s husband was Wally, who passed away in about 2007 or 2008. I can’t think of Rose without thinking of him. She was who she was because of his input into her life and he was who he was, also partly because of the her input into his life. I think that we learned that in physics. There is no way that you can define an element by itself because it is always in relation to other elements. I think it is true of human beings too.

     Wally was born in the house where they lived after their marriage in 1937 and Rose still lives there. Holy Moses. 1109 N. Richmond, Humboldt 61183, are burned into my psyche almost as my identity. Anyway, on Sunday the 4^th of Feb we celebrated Mass together with the community of Sr. Mark’s parish where she has been a parishioner for over 60 yrs. After the Mass, we went off for the celebratory party at a venue called the White Eagle. It seems that the family knew the place from before and it had a Polish flavour. There were family from Cairo in Egypt, me from South Africa, Ottawa in Canada, DC, Tuscon Arizona, North Carolina, San Diego, Detroit, as well as locals from the Milwaukee – Chicago area, Illinois and Indiana. She, and the rest of her generation, aunts and uncles, left us a tough legacy to follow and keep up with. They were of the old school, rock solid, loving, caring, honest, non-hypocritical, non-judgmental people. If the rest of the world were like them we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now. Although Rose uses a wheelchair, she can also use a walker. Her hearing is not that good but she is lively and humorous and quick to respond to anything. I found out that she was number 9 of the 14 children in her family. I think that her enduring presence has played a very positive role in all of our lives, kind of challenging us to live up to the standards that she and her generation set for us.

    I will be, God-willing, taking my home leave next year and really was afraid to miss this opportunity to tell her how much we love her and appreciate who she is for us all.. She may not be here next year so I felt that I had to go now.

    I am not a happy plane traveller. I can’t sleep and get very uncomfortable sitting for anywhere from 8 ½ hrs. to 14 hrs. I always get an aisle seat, preferably not too far from the John, so that I don’t have to disturb others often when I go to the John or just to keep from getting another DVT by marching up and down the aisle to keep the blood circulating.

     My travel agent, Rajes, also ordered a wheelchair for me this time. As my friend made it clear to me, I only refuse to take a wheelchair (I will be 83 this year, so I am much younger than Rose) because I am too proud a priest to be seen in a wheelchair. Not macho enough. Okay, so I became very humble and took it, again, and now I am getting addicted. They wheel you easily through immigration and customs with no fuss at all. I try to tell myself that it is OK but something inside of me says it ain’t fair.

     It was great to be with the family  again and to catch up a bit on their lives and to see them smile and be happy although they all have big problems (health and otherwise) that sit on their shoulders. I get energized and inspired when I see them and know the problems they have to deal with every day in their lives. In comparison, I have no problems or at least small ones. So I guess that means that I have to use what energy I have to give help and support to those who have bigger problems and who need help and encouragement.

    This time, I stayed with my cousin Jean and he husband Tom. I enjoyed their playful dogs, one big and a young teenager, the other small and older and a bit more cranky, something like people. Michael, their oldest son, did the snow shoveling the whole time. It was nice to see a family in action, each doing his or her thing but with sharing chores when it needed sharing. It was refreshing to be with Rose and the family. It touched my spirit. Also, it was nice to see my little brother (he is huge) John and his wife Donna, and my nieces Jenna and Karla. Just being with them picks up my spirits. It’s like drinking Energade.

    I also learned, on the way back how to kill time on the plane so that you didn’t notice how tired your buns were getting because I kept myself occupied with films, music, documentaries, and trips to the John and just keeping the blood flowing. I will sleep, I told myself, when I get home. Although I did get a good sleep in a hotel bed, organized by my travel agent, so that I didn’t have to sleep on a chair in the airport at Dubai. Many thanks to her.

     I arrived home on a Saturday evening and was off and running for an 8:30 Mass at a neighboring parish. They had asked, via WhatsApp, from South Africa, to Chicago, If I could take that Mass and I answered Yes. Modern communication. Wow.

Whew, why do I wait so long to keep the blog updated. Now I have to do some packing. Good night. Cas

Now it is Sunday the 18^th of Feb.

     I have been reading the biography of Dorothy Day the past week or so and I just came to the point where she passed away, quietly, “like turning a page” one described it. She has been challenging me to rethink who I am, what I have done and am doing, and what are my deepest convictions. She has been on my mind and in my heart a lot these days. In a way she reminds me of Thomas Merton, whose life in “ The Seven Story Mountain”, also touched me. People who live a normal, even unchristian life, so to say, with plenty of what we would call sin, and yet, drawn deeply in their spirits to a more meaningful and Godly life, involving the renunciation of most the material things that meant so much to them before, and finding life in spiritual things, but involving many sacrifices.

   But let me get back to the things at hand here.

   On the 12^th of Feb. I had to take the rental car back to Avis and was prepared to do some more walking to the hospital every morning for Mass, and to cut down on my wanderings. However, when I got to the desk, the guy said why are you bringing the car back so early. It isn’t due till the 22^nd. Holy Moses. Sharon, our insurance agent, had persuaded the insurance company to extend the time for another 10 days. That came as a relief to me because, as you may have already noticed, I am definitely addicted to my “wheels”. That meant that I could go to the bank to deposit the gifts I had received in Chicago meant for the poor. I could also go to Vodacom to find out why I was charged more that R60.00 for air time from the 2^nd to the 10^th of Feb. How could that be because I was in the States that whole time and never used to phone for phone calls. He discovered that some company  was taking off R7.00 each day for something that I had signed up for without even realizing it. Wow. I also queried the bill I got for R2037.00, for one month when, for the whole year previous, I had always paid R75.00 for my mobile router which I use only when I am away from my home wi-fi. They have cut me off service until this matter is resolved. I argued that it is clear that for 12 months, and more, I never went over the R75.00 so how could it be that in the next month, I racked up a bill for over R2000 when I didn’t do anything different. Maybe it is like the Russians who are interfering with American media. But Why me? I haven’t been colluding with anyone, not even the Russians.

     Ash Wednesday was special because it was also Valentine’s day. They actually go together because they are both about love. And love, as we all know, is about sacrifice. There is no lover who is a true lover unless he or she is willing to sacrifice for the loved one. Tell me this isn’t true! And the ashes are a sign that we appreciate the sacrifice that Jesus made for us when he gave up his life on the cross for us, a thing that he didn’t have to do, for sure. And the ashes are a sign that we are willing, during lent, to make a few sacrifices in return and in appreciation for what he has done and taught us to do, if we want to be real lovers. The little church was packed and there were many teen agers and smaller kids. I was happy because it gave me a chance to explain to them what both Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s day were all about, at least what they mean to me.

    Trying to put into practice what I had preached about on Wednesday, on Thursday I managed to visit 5 people in 3 different hospitals, to bring them a bit of love and consolation since it was the last place that they really wanted to be.

   I hadn’t seen my friend Shirley for a long time so I decided to pop in and see how she was doing. She is past 83 and works full time as a painter, teaching, giving workshops, etc. She wasn’t home when I first stopped so I thought I could use the time to check at Avis about my bringing in the vehicle the next day, the 16^th. Ha, he said, no, it has been extended to the 23^rd. What, again!!! Well that makes it easier for me. But I am going to get more and more lazy or do more and more traveling if this keeps up.

   ON Saturday, I had mass with the sister postulants. It always my heart happy to see young girls who are still willing to give up their lives in service to God’s people in a variety of ways in a religious community. However, I also pray hard for them because I know from experience that it ain’t going to be an easy life. Like all of us, we have to be prepared to take the good with the bad, if we want to be faithful to our basic commitment, especially as Christians, but also as good, decent human beings, to try to make this a bit better world for our having been here. The temptations to go the opposite direction are strong.

     Well, here in our part of the world, South Africa has a new president. The old one, Jacob Zuma, finally agreed to resign “with immediate effect”, and the take over of the new one, Cyril Ramaposa, was a smooth and orderly one when there could have been disorder and even violence. He made the usual promises of all politicians when he gave the State of the Nation Address, but, coming from him, it sounded better than it has for the past 10 years. We now have to pray for him because it is a mammoth task to try to deal with all the problems that face us, among them huge unemployment among our youth, deep and serious corruption, improving our sagging economy, dealing with the water crisis (you probably heard that Cape Town is only a few months from day zero, no water in the taps….that is for 4 million people. And Cape Town is not the only one. We are a desertifying country and everyone must do their best to limit our consumption of and use of water.) These are just a few. Infrastructure, agriculture, a limping education system, a health system that needs a total overhaul, the possibility of a national health system to make decent health care a real possibility for the poor who are locked out of the system now, for the most part, not able to afford the best health care in the world in the private hospitals.

     I pray that America may find a way to deal with Trump as Zimbabwe managed to deal with Mugabe and South Africa managed to deal with Zuma. But that’s enough for now. Love you always. Cas.

Monday Feb. 19^th

   I think I was dreaming last night. I don’t know if this happened really or only in my head. A Mexican migrant, pleading for his life, don’t shoot, bang, by a border guard, one less Mexican migrant, now we can feel more secure. Another family starving without a breadwinner, driven by the hunger of his starving wife and children to try to find a source of income. Where, America, is your compassion, mercy, justice even. When I grew up America was loved by the whole world. Everyone wanted to come here, and many did, including my grandparents, from Poland on the one side and from Denmark on the other. Migrants. Now America is hated and feared. We should send the Statue of Liberty back to France and put up a statue of Trump, with his arms outstretched and his palms turned up, with the saying. “Go away, you are not welcome here. Especially you Muslims”.