April 14, 2019---Palm Sunday

I am going out for a walk now and will be back , I hope, soon. I will do my exercises and then come back to put something in this bloody blog.

It is after the news and I am determined to write something, so here goes.

    During the past 2 weeks I have been blessed with occasional visitors, even including my dentist, Sr. Michael and the Cardinal (Napier).

There are a couple of major events that have taken place during this time. I am mostly doing my exercises faithfully every day but am not pleased because I can’t get my knee to be as flat and straight as my other knee. Maybe I am just rushing it too much.

     I have been having trouble with my bowels, e.g. is I know that there is something there but it just doesn’t want to come out. Lots of wind (people don’t know how true it is when they say that there is no fart like an old fart., Ha.) but no substance. No peristaltic movement. It got to the point where I had to use artificial means to get things moving and I don’t like that. So, I was advised to go to my internal surgeon doctor and ask what to do. I explained that I am going on home leave at the end of May and I don’t know how this is going to impact on my home leave. When I gave him a recent history of my ops and bm problems, he said, after an op, especially a spinal op involving nerves, it is normal for the bm to be disturbed. Not to worry. It will return to its own pattern after a while. In the meantime, do what you have to do (it may be a month of more) to keep clean, but don’t worry, it will start to develop its own new pattern. I was relieved to hear that. So, from time to time I will do my ritual cleansing and watch for the developing new pattern.

      On the 9^th some friends from the States arrived for a visit, coming up from Cape Town. They stayed at our guest house, Tre Fontane, run by our Mariannhill Sisters (CPS) . The whole day Wednesday, 10^th, we were on the road, visiting Glenmore Center where the Cardinal was having a meeting. We planned to catch him during the tea break and it worked…a whole half hour with him, and meeting lots of other people I knew who were also at that workshop. Then off to a lunch at Makaranga, a restaurant set in the middle of a semi wild garden, super beautiful. After that a visit to the Denis Hurley Centre in downtown Durban… a must for anyone coming to Durban.

    We closed off the night with a supper (dinner) at El Arish, where the Cardinal joined us for the meal and the evening. All were happy.

I hobbled through the day sometimes on crutches and sometimes with a cane but I managed to get in my exercises.

     The last thing worth mentioning is that on Friday, the 12^th, I tried driving. I had asked to mechanic who is next door to my garage to make sure that it was ready to go on that day. I was so disappointed when I opened the garage door and pressed the remote and there was no response. Dead as a doornail. I went next door to see the mechanic who was out and about but was back within 5 minutes. He simply opened the hood and reconnected the battery. All was fine. I went to the hospital to show off my crutches and to thank the staff for their prayer and then to the convent to do the same, but came a bit late.

    I also had a visit by the Srs. Of Mother Theresa and my friend Shirley. She brought some special bread which I use for toast every morning, as well as some yogurt and a chocolate bar (which disappeared quickly).

    So, that is about it. I still have to transfer some funds to people’s accounts for rents, tuitions, etc.

    We old timers celebrated Palm Sunday together here on our own. There were 7 of us. We blessed the palms and read the Passion like everyone else. Not much more to tell.

      I don’t sleep well at night because the anti-inflammatory I take doesn’t seem strong enough to stop the occasional spasm that could knock you out of bed. But aside from that, I am raring to go. I even started packing my suitcase yesterday. You can see that I am getting ancey and I want this leg and knee to be in good shape when I leave, but, whatever, I will be climbing on that plane on the 31^st of May.

     I don’t mention that we pray for this sick world of ours (demonstrations in Sudan and Algeria with the people demanding a total change of government---war again in Libya, what a waste.---More bombs in Pakistan and Afghanistan---not to mention Brexit, which scares everybody, our own troubles here in South Africa with elections coming up on May 8^th---not much choice but the ruling government which has betrayed the people with its greed and corruption, I mean really serious corruption….not to mention Pope Francis and his battle with the entrenched clerical culture there in Rome, etc. etc. etc.  Lots to pray about  and get involved in one way or the other…. The Hurricane Idai that wiped out a whole city, Beira, and left millions of people without food, water, anything. Holy Moses.

      Holy Week, especially Good Friday continues to be real in God’s people, who suffer with Jesus… his suffering is ongoing.

Easter means that when everything points in the other direction, hopelessness, there is hope, as unbelievable as it seems.

That’s enough preaching for now. I am getting ready for bed soon. Lots and lots of love to you all. And, a happy and hopeful Easter.   Cas.