127 days of digital mass and 127 days of #socialdistancing

A blessed Sunday morning with #princess2015la. She said something to me. I reacted jokingly by saying, “Oh that hurts my feelings.” “No, Grandma,” then moves to sit on my lap. “When I ask you to take care of me, you do and you even get more excited when I come visit you.” She definitely knows how much she is loved.#selfassuredfiveyearsold #sheknowssheisinLolashouse

She painted her Lola’s house and called it “Brightness.” #wefillupherlovetank #wegiveherundividedattention #mygiftfrombabyjesus

This am, I was fortunate to catch livestreamed mass of Fr. Randy Odchigue. His homily is exceptional in depth, in theological brilliance and existential philosophy of Albert Camus who spoke of Sisyphus rolling up the boulder up the mountain. To some it might look dreary, as he was consigned to keep rolling it from downhill, up to the mountains. But, Camus said Sisyphus must be happy as his happiness was not dependent on anyone and his reward was the effort itself, of rising up daily and keep moving the boulder from below to up the mountain, a curse he was consigned to.

He expounded on the sower who planted seeds. Some seeds fell on the thorns and withered. Some fell on the rocks, grew, but because of shallow roots, growth was uprooted by rains. Others fell on good soil and bore fruit abundantly for 100, 60, and 30.

Fr. Randy opened his homily by distinguishing psychologists’ tests of showing a glass filled halfway with water to testers. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty, while the optimist sees it half full.

He spoke of this biblical metaphor of sowing seeds and how farmers, though not guaranteed harvest, rise up everyday to tend to their farms. It is not unlike this pandemic, he said, where we rise up and tend to our daily duties yet, like an optimist, we will see bountiful harvests from good seeds. He likened the thistles, the rocks as shallow faith, while the good soil is that of rock solid faith from those who continue to have God’s grace of expecting, of having militant hope, and vigilant belief that God holds our hands. Be committed and have the conviction that God holds our hands in this journey. #BrilliantHomilistFrRandyOdchigue #GratefulforFamilyVisitFromFlores #GratefulforMyPeaceandContentment #GratefulforbeinglikeSisyphus