July 17, 2019

It is actually now the 18^th. Good intentions yesterday but no follow through.

Because our retirement home is close to the retreat house, we are often asked to help with confessions, so Fr. Urs and I went to the retreat house on the evening of the 12^th to hear confessions for those who were making a retreat that weekend. This is always one of the moving experiences of a priest’s life because it is as though he is a fly on the wall and gapes in awe at the mysterious grace-full exchange of life and love between the penitent and his / her God. It is awesome. You are witness to something so sacred and intimate that you realize that it is beyond what you can absorb. You try to be of help if there is some sort of request, but, in the end, it is the prime example of God’s ever merciful, loving forgiveness, of which the priest is just the proxy, adding physical word to the spiritual reality of the forgiveness that is taking place in the spirit. It always touches my spirit and inspires me

Shirley was supposed to have come on the `135^th  for a chat and sharing a samosa or something but she chose to drop me and go to visit a friend of hers, an elderly lady over 80, who had been beaten up by thieves who had broken into the house and went on a stealing spree. She was not in good shape but at least she is alive but has lost her freedom in that her car was also stolen. Ask any senior citizen what it means to have to be for transport to go here or there or wherever.

On the 13^th 3 sisters were celebrating their jubilees, 2 X  60 yrs in vows and one, my Sr. Eugenia (we work together at the hospital) 50 yrs. If you do some mathematical calculating, you will see that their combined yrs. Of service to the Lord’s people comes to 170 yrs. Wow. That is a lot. 1 was a teacher, 1 worked in the community’s laundry for many many yrs. And Eugenia is a nurse, the one who works together with me. They still have  a lot of energy left for some yrs. To come.

On the 14^th, Sunday, I was back at Savannah Park to concelebrate with my friend Fr. Des. There was one time when I was standing free of the altar and turned too quickly and started to fall (this was just before communion) and the people gasped as I fell, comfortably, into Fr. Des’ arms. You should have seen the look on the faces of the church goers who thought, for sure, that I was going to fall. Almost. But I need something to lean on to give me stability.

 (I only checked something at the post office on the 15^th… a lazy day.)    On the 16^th, I did 5 chores—get petrol, check post office for incoming parcel, supermarket, Paulines ( religious goods store where I bought a new English Sunday Missal) and finally lunch with a family who are my age and whom I have known since I buried their Waterhead baby 50 yrs, ago.

17^th of July. This is a crucial day since it determined my future. I went to see Dr. Wolpe, the neurologist who has been looking after me, to give a report on the cortisone, how it is working. We tried something called Baclofen for a month (it is used mainly by people who have spinal injuries which sometimes cause spasms). No change,  spasms as usual.  Then we tried Cortisone (it is three weeks now with some heavy doses following 3 IV’. Some small improvements in muscle relaxation and flexibility, but the spasms keep coming, as they are playing with me leg muscles as I am writing. I told him that we tried these things (always treating symptoms, never getting to the cause, which no one can figure out). He suggested maybe trying some Valium. Ha. I hear how Hollywood lives on Valium (among other poisons) and said, no way jose. I have been thinking about my situation and am prepared to take it a day at a time and just live with it as so many other people have to do with their situations. They can’t change their situation (and many much worse off than me) and I as prepared to see who I am going to live with it. Anyway, I have been living with these spasms for 4 months now, since the knee op, and I still get up in the morning as usual (the sun keeps coming up in the East, believe it or not) I can still take my own shower, dress myself, move around, although a bit more slow with a crutch, and I can still drive, and at the dining room table, I find that my mouth works fine. Ha.

I think I will go to see Dr. Naidoo, the orthopaedic surgeon, to see if he has any advice as to how I can move forward with a knee that will probably never get 100 %. At least now I have a focus and will plunge ahead.

18^th, today, we had a meeting (the first sine Feb.) of the team that is planning the building of the new church for Savannah Park. The plans have been with the municipality for months now and still have not been approved because now they have come up with an environmental assessment necessity, like for landscaping. We have to wait for them to go through the various requirements before we can get an approval. Then we can start building. One decision that was made was to have another fund raiser in October. WE have enough to get started building, and the wisdom is that once the building is seen to be going up, people will be more motivated to give a helping hand with donations of money or bricks or other things.

One last thing before I go. I found this article somewhere on the internet and I want to share it with you. As you know, I am not a Trump supporter and am not out to impeach him ( we most likely wouldn’t get enough votes with the Republican senate and then he could crow about that too) but I am appalled at his lack of morality, or any of the so-called Gospel values, since he always seem to equate success with money---what great deals he has done, as with Saudi Arabia.

But I don’t want to get off on that right now. But here is an article that caught my eye. Let me know what you think, if you get a chance. You know my email….frcascmm50@gmail.com

July 11, 2019

All of us here, old timers, were glued to the TV watching the American World Soccer Women’s team. Hooray. I felt sorry for the Netherlands, but these women represented more than just a soccer game and I am fully behind what they stand for. The team leader told Trump that she wasn’t interested in being invited to his white house. What was understood is that many of the values that the women of this team have (respect for LGBT people and blacks, human rights more than money, women’s rights, the same reward for the winners of the womens’ game as the men---Trump has a poor record when it comes to treating women as objects and not human beings, etc. etc. etc. ) at least this is what I imagine. I was a highlight of the week.

    I had a video of me made as I am trying to get up from a sitting position and the gymnastics I go through to get up straight so that I can walk. I don’t know if the medication is doing anything big, maybe small and subtle. I do see some positive changes in my ability to walk normally now but the changes are so sloooooow. I think that that the knee won’t be able to operate properly till the swelling has gone down completely. It has gone down a lot and that is good. But enough of this stuff.

    I was invited to a birthday party last Sunday (Peter McKai—his 80^th). I had already been to the service at Savannah Park where we had 8 baptisms. I am grateful for my friend, Fr. Des, who has been lending a hand and filling in for months now. The people also appreciate his commitment to serving our community when he would have other options.

   But back to the birthday party. It was a cold day and we celebrated outside with a braii vleis, a cook out. It was the first all white gathering that I have attended. We were all in the 70’s and 80’s and these were people who were supporters of Archbishop Hurley, trying , in their various ways, to bring justice and peace to an apartheid South Africa. They, like me, are concerned about the direction South Africa has taken in the past few years but are prepared to support the new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who, we all feel, is the right person for the job but has so many challenges and problems to deal with that we all wonder if he is going to make it. But we will try to support him.

     A friend from up country (Maluti, at the foot of he Drakensburg Mts. Where it is very very cold---below zero) came to visit as he was down country (Durban, south coast) for medical check ups. I was sad to hear that they still don’t have electricity in his village, and I doubt that there is water piped to the houses. This is almost 2020. You go outside to the long drop to the toilet and it is freezing cold. Do I dare to complain about any discomforts I may have. Ha. God would punish me. I am more than blessed.