Its been a while since i last posted.  that was on the occasion of the death of my Father and his sister three weeks later.  In the interim I have been to Sacramento for a Canon Law meeting.  that was immediately preceded by a visit to Paula's aunt who works at Wente Wineries. After Sacramento i was in Belgium for to continue the pursuit of myJCL.
However, this past weekend was the attendance at the celebration of the ordination of a friend, Greg Thompson, to the Order of Deacons.  Attending ordinations always brings back memories of one's own.  Mine was 27 1/2 years ago.  The music was different, so was the place but the ancient tradition remains and always serves to call you back to the center.
While i could not see much (because I was seated behind a pillar) I sensed the presence of God's spirit in the laying on of hands, the intonation of the Litany of Saints with its humbling posture of postration, and the handing of the Book of the Gospels.  The words that accompany this are profound and challenging.  "Receive the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose herald you now are, believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach"
To those  I have ministered to and heralded Jesus to i thank you for the privilege. To those  to whom i have failed to herald Christ, I am sorry for my fault.
To Greg- Ad Multos Annos,   (to many years)
To All- Pax Vobiscum  (peace be with you_

October 4, 2013 A Generation Gone

The last  input I made was after the death of my father.  It's been a while.  But this week his youngest sister succumbed to two cancers. Her death brings an end to a generation of Laurita's.

There were three offspring of Donato and  Maria.  They set foot on the US shore with my father in arm as a 3 month old (I learned  that he was the youngest Italian immigrant to pass through Ellis Island).
They were sponsored by my grandmother's  ex- brother in law.  Maria was married before and had already been to the US and had a son.  Her first husband and son died in the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918.  She returned to Italy and there met my grandfather in the village of Pietragalla.
Once back with her  new husband and newborn son they settled in Corona, New York. An Italian immigrant community in Queens, NY.
There the begot Mary and Antoinette.  My aunt mary died from breast cancer many years ago while I was still in high school. Antoinette was the youngest.  My first memory of her was visiting her while she worked as a seamstress at a dress making sweat shop on Corona Avenue.  She was a vibrant  lady.  As i posted before she was the Aunt who took me to Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas show of 1958.   I thought she was a "woman of the world" because she  knew her way around Manhattan.  There is a picture of her and my mother sitting at a table at the famed Copacabana, cigarettes in hand, dressed up and partaking of something alcoholic. She taught me to do both the lindy hop and the cha cha.  ( this was back when  couples actually danced)
Annette married " later" to Joe Paesano, a brick mason. For the majority of their life they lived in a two bedroom apartment in Whitestone NY.  Their first children were twin boys, JOSEPH and STEPHAN. Followed by two girls LISA and RENEE.
When ever I was home on leave we would visit. Coffee was made, cake was eaten.
She was always present at the family gathering.  She made sure that "she made a  plate for Uncle Joe".
She danced at my wedding(s).
She was an avid poker player long before poker was televised, while Uncle Joe "played the ponies".
But she always had her prayer cards.
As the Laurita progenitors are laid to west, the wave of one's own mortality looms larger and larger.
The Church says in its funeral prayers "life had not ended, rather life has changed" because the  Perpetual Light of Christ is always before us.
Requiesat in pace Donato and Maria;  Joseph, Mary and Antoinette!

September 6-13, 2013 Word images of my father!

Blue cotton work clothes
Black garrison belt around his waist.
Hands stained with oil and grease.

Always at work
McGrottey Chevrolet in the day
Backyard garage into the night.

Saturday morning up early
Donuts, bagels in a sack
Daily news read from front to back.

Friends that use him
Past that haunts
Present unappreciated.

Host to cousins, uncles and aunts
Feasts provided year in and year out
Hospitable to all at the door.

September 5, 2013 High Holy Days

Today marks the first of the two days of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, soon it will be Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.  These are the High Holy Days.
In my youth, school started the day after Labor Day, soon the High Holy Days would commence.  Our Jewish schoolmates and teachers would get off from school.  Since they made up almost half of the school population we would have "bring a board  game to school days" just to occupy our time.  As a result I always thought that the beginning of the school year was a fun time.
We lived in a more "religiously tolerant" time.  Those were the days of religious respect, not religious opposition.  Any way happy New Year!

September 1, 2013 Passing Pets

This was a bad week.  My son's dog succumbed to, as a yet unknown, toxin.  My aching heart has been remembering other pets.  My first dogs were the Old English Sheepdogs Ginseng and Rosehips.
Ginseng, I lost in a divorce.  Rosehips accompanied me to Belgium.  We were staying with a friend who lived on a country road.  While working Rosehips got out of the house and was run over by a tractor.  I buried her on a farm in Belgium.
After the boys were born we got Corie, a Chocolate Lab, who came with us from Pennsylvania to Alabama. Corie was with us for 14 years until she came down with a sarcoma.  We kept her comfortable for six months but finally we had to give her up.
Now we  lost Caesar, my son John's Bernese Mountain Dog.
Dogs are great friends but when they leave us with our hearts broken and tears in our eyes.
To Rosehips, Corie and Caesar you are always in my memory.

 

August 24, 2013 Cocktail after thoughts

Went to a dinner the other night that paired  hand crafted cocktails with the five course meal.
Both cocktails and food were great but it got me remembering about cocktails.
Growing up it seemed like prominent  cocktails were either a Tom Collins or a Highball.  I remember when ever my parents were expecting guests we would go to the beverage store and get Tom Collins mix and soda water. In college years there was either  the ubiquitous rum and coke or Seven and Seven.  The army years were filled with Jack Daniels and Ginger ale. There was brief episode with Harvey Wallbangers but that did not end well.  Then there was the Campari and soda phase, in homage to my Italian roots since it was an acquired taste not shared by many.  Most recently ( years ago actually) I found the classic Manhattan which has become my staple as long as there are three cherries to give honor to the Most Holy Trinity.

August 21, 2013 brotherly memories

Today is my brother Tom's 60th Birthday.  I actually remember when he was brought home from the hospital.  I was 5 years old and remember my Mom placing him on the kitchen table.  The table  was red formica topped  with a chrome border.   Tom is a self made man whom i admire for his integrity.
He is generous with his time, his talent and his treasures.

August 18, 2013 "Community Theater"

Last night Paula and I went to a community production of Euripides  "The Trojan Woman".  Community theater has been part of my past.  The last production I was involved with was "The Rimers of Eldrich".  The first was "Plaza Suite".  In between I had parts in "The Odd Couple", "Brighton Beach Memoirs", "The Diary of Ann Frank",  and "Our Town".  The parts I have wanted but never had the opportunity were "Marty" and "The Fiddler on the Roof".  Funny thing about my  career in theater is that I aways enjoyed the  rehearsal more than the production.

August 15, 2013 Back to School

This week it is back to school down here.  We did not return to school until after Labor Day in my day. However, this period of time  coincides with preschool preparation.  That preparation involved an annual trip to Delancey Street.  Delancy Street in the Bowery was called then Jew town, of course that would be politically incorrect now days.  That part of  the city was the center of  "wholesale" garment stores.  Our reason for going each year was to buy new underwear, socks and towels for the upcoming  school year. The trip also involved a stop at  Katz's Deli.  Katz's was a renowned  Kosher deli where the pastrami sandwiches were 8 inches high  The bustle of the sandwich makers was raucous, loud but there efficiency was incredible.  What i remember  most dearly about Katz's was the opportunity to reach down into the brine of the pickle barrels.  Yes reach down with our hands, which today is "unhygienic" but the flavor of the pickle was incredible. Cream soda and/or celery soda accompanied the meal..
So after  lunch and garment buying we would cross the Williamsburgh bridge back into Brooklyn making our way to Pitkin Ave where new shows were bought to add to the  new school year outfitting.

July 29- August 11, 2013 Flying Memories

Have been involved with Latin studies ergo, no blogging these past two weeks.  But after sleeping until 1300 today, I am back online.  I flew to Charlottes to save 7 hours of driving. However, with the state of American air travel these days I did not save time.  Got to the  charlotte airport at 2 PM for security reasons.  The 5 PM flight was delayed till 630 PM b ut didn't take  off until 815.  Which got me into Atlanta with an hour to spare to  meet my 845 flight  to Huntsville which had been delayed until 1010 PM. Finally arrived in HSV at 10 PM central time which  was 11 PM EST, which meant that I was in transit for 9 hours to fly two legs that should have totaled 1 hour 10 minutes.

All this leads to remember some early flying experience.  The first time I ever set foot on an airplane was on a 6th grade trip to LaGuardia Airport. We were given a tour of the airport, taken up to the  traffic control tower and allowed to  board a DC 6 that taxied around the airport with engines  roaring and propellers spinning.  The next time i was airborne was when  my Civil Air Patrol Drill team won a statewide competition that gave us the opportunity to float through the air on the Goodyear Blimp.Of course that was soon followed by a rather long flight via "Flying Tiger Airline" that transported  me and a few others  to Ton son Hout Air[port in Viet Nam. There there were numerous flights on Huey Medivac missions.

July 27,28 2013 hecho in mexico

have been in mexico for two days.  my fist trip to mexico was while in officer basic.  we drove from san Antonio texas to Monterey mexico.  back the it was still safe to so or we were foolish to do so.
we stayed at "motel" in Monterey. spent the evening drinking wit some young mexican folks.  Sunday we went to the bullfights. to our surprise one of the matadors was drinking friend from the night before.  from what  i remember the bull should have won that fight.
a few years later, while stationed in el paso we made frequent trips to juarez. the food and drink were cheap, they had great steaks.
twenty years ago went to a mexican prison  to provide anesthesia on a medical mission on isola tres marias.
been scuba and snorkeling in cancun and cozumel.
today i am at casa oracion involved in latin studies.

July 24,25,26, 2013 Priest Memories

Thursday night i hosted a fete for a departing priest which got me to remembering priest I have worked with over the years.

The first priest I remember was the pastor at St. Rocco's- Msgr DiGiovanni who prepared  me for Communion, He waled with a staff that he often used to correct our incomplete genuflections.  Fr. Cunningham and Fr. Stafford were the pastor and the curate at St. Ann'e in Flushing  where I received Confirmation.  In the Army I encountered a Fr. Thomas, an army chaplain in Viet Nam.  When not in combat I would go to a leprosy  orphanage where I met Fr. Tran who ran the orphanage with a group of VietNamese nuns.

When I returned stateside I wandered  away for a while until I met Fr. O'Connell who was the Chaplain at SHAPE who was followed by Fr. Mastroantonio.  O'Connel was light hearted Marcantonio was despondent.  There was also Fr. McGee, the Irish chaplain to the  British forces, who was the  priest  that married us

When I was transferred Kaiserslautern I worked with Fr. Alcuin Greenburg, a jewish convert to the faith who was a Benedictine Monk serving as an army chaplain to Landstuhl Hospital.  There was also Malachi Higgiston who I met  at  Cursillo , who was stationed in Kaiserslautern.

Stateside again I  worked with Fr. Colonel Speitel at Fort Dix. I reconnected with Malachi at Fort dix    who sponsored me through the diaconate.

While in Italy there was the catholic chaplain Fr. Weydowich.

After my military career i lived and served in the Upper Darby area of Pennsylvania.  Monsignor Fitzgerald was a typical Irish  Philadelphian, Fr. Bill Chirriaco, Fr, Dominic, a Viet Namese priest,  whose English was better than  an irish immigrant priest who was in town to serve the illegal irish immigrants.

Coming to Alabama there was  Joe Allen who rejected my help. Then there was  Fr. Murphy at St. Johns where i have been for 20 years.  Since Murphy left and died there was Monsignor Sexton and now Phil O'Kennedy as pastor.  Ran through a number of associates, Allen Mackey, Thomas Woods, Joe Lodi, Fr. Jose, Mark Spruill and Fr. Roy Runkle who is the departing priest we feasted with last night.

All of these men have had varied influences on my life, for which I am grateful/

July 22,23, 2013 Medical Experiments

Went to enroll as a subject in a medical experiment.  This not my first time as a subject.  I do not know if they still do it but way back when colleges use to be recruiting grounds for medical test subjects.  I was  once put to sleep with drug that later was marketed as ETHRANE, an anesthetic that was widely used in the 1970's but is now off the market.
I was in a cohort study looking for a correlation between pre medications  before anesthesia and memory awareness.   That study led to the development of VERSED, a popular amnesic that is still in use today.
When i worked at the Aeromedical research center at Fort Rucker Alabama, i was involved in the development of a new helmet for helicopter pilots as well as an experiment in oxygen consumption during simulated "auto rotation" events.  Guess what ? if your helicopter is about to go down, you consume more  oxygen.  I also conducted studies in the reduction of blood loss for  total hip replacements by the use of a group of blood pressure lowering drugs, most of which are now off the market.

July 20,21, 2013 Royal Memories

Today I learned that  Belgium has newly crown King.  I consider King Philippe,  his Queen Matilde and his two young princes and two young princesses are my royalty family since i have been spending so much time there the past years.  So my memory is about how close I have been to royalty.  Once on leave in New York i wanted to go the theater, so I purchased some tickets at the USO.  When I arrived at the theater the usher "upgraded me".   Waiting for the curtain to open i was aware that the three rows in front of me were empty.  Minutes  before the music started two men in dark suits with earphones  stood by the empty rows.   Moments later in walked an entourage.  They took their  seats.  it was then just before the house lights dimmed that i recognized I was sitting directly behind Princess Grace Kelly, Prince Ranier and daughter Princess Caroline.  I have forgotten what show i saw, but  I will always remember going to the theater with Royalty.

July 17,18,19, 2013 Library memories!

Things were quiet today. Spent most of it doing research. So I think of the library of my youth.  The Queensboro Branch of the Queens Library System.  It was an odd shaped building, six sided, that sat by itself on an island of land across from the A& P on Main Street.  I actually remember some of the books I took out.  There was  Booth Tarkington's Penrod. A four book series that dealt with being cadet at West Point.  Reading those I memorized the answers to questions the new plebes were required to know.  One was - How's the cow!  She walks, she talks ms he's full of chalk.  The lacteal fluid extracted from female of the bovine species is highly prolific to the nth degree.  The novels of Ian Fleming were another favorite along with any thing about World War II.
At the library I would read the New York Times and the Herald Tribune. I would also listen to classical  music  on their record players.  The library was always a comfortable place for me.  Perhaps that is why I am married to a librarian.

July 16, 2013 Buona Festa!

Today is the Feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel.  A really big day for us Italian=Americans.
Each year in Corona new york, where my paternal grandparents lived there would be  grand street festival.  The food was abundant trays of sausage and peppers, brown paper bags of hot zeppole covered with powder sugar, tranches of pizza, various home made wine booths.  Loud music with men crooning neapolitan love songs. Italian ices served by the Italian Ice King of Corona. There were never ending bocce games, bright lights and carnival rides.
But most importantly there was the procession with the statue of Our Lady.  The statute was life size and usually stood in the right nave of a little chapel, that was a mission from st. leo's church.  The statute had a series of garments that would be changed each year in the days leading up to the Feast.  A novena was made and during the none days of the Novena the "widowers would sit near the statute to receive the  donations.  The dollar bills were "prayerfully"pinned to the garments of Our Lady.  No one and  I mean no one was allowed to touch that statue lest you received the wrath of the widows.  During the afternoon of the  feast day the statute would be placed on a "sled" and carried in procession through the streets of Corona by young men.  one of the widows on the "  again to "sled"to receive and protect. Music would be played by band that consisted of brass horns and drums.  The streets were full.  There was little chance of trouble because  the "boys from the social club" always had an eye out.  I loved the days of the Festa . I looked  forward to it each years and miss it dearly!
Buona Festa

July 15, 2013 New Car Memories

Joshua went and bought his first car on his own, a low milage 2012 Ford Fusion! After inheriting my 1964 Corvair from my brother Joseph as he went off to the Air Force.  The first car I bought  from a dealer was a Green Volkswagen Hatchback.  Unfortunately, it did not last long.  On a ski trip to Vermont we hit some heavy snow slid out and that vehicle was totaled.  It was back to the Corvair.  The next time I bought  a new car was coming back from Viet Nam.  Through AAFEES we were able to preorder a vehicle to pick upon our stateside return.  I had been drooling over an Audi 100 LS, silver metallic, five speed.  I picked it up in San Francisco.  That was interesting in that I had never in my life drove a manual transmission.  I taught myself to to drive a stick shift on the hills of San Francisco.  That car lasted through Anesthesia school and part of my assignment at Fort Rucker in Alabama.  There I became interested in showing  my English sheepdogs, so I replace the Audi with a Red Pontiac station wagon.  That vehicle lasted till I left for Belgium, so I replaced it with a Oldsmobile Omni.  While in Belgium, i replaced the Omni with my all time favorite vehicle the 1982 Saab 900 Turbo, midnight blue. That was  ultimately replaced with a little red Sentra to commute in and around Philadelphia. Following that was green Ford pick up, a used white Crown Victoria and now my second favorite car the Chrysler 300.

July 13, 14, 15, 2013 Baseball

My nephew posted on Facebook that he saw the movie 42.  A biography of Jackie Robinson.  My memory for today is seeing him play at Ebbet's Field along with Roy Camponello  Pee Wee Reese , Duke Snyder and Gil Hodges.
Ebbets field was one of the original baseball stadiums, the home of the  Brooklyn Dodgers.  It is gone now but i do recall it had windows.  We sat in an upper section.  Actually my seat was behind a steel beam.  I was less than 10 years old because the Dodgers left Brooklyn for LA in 1958.
New York had three baseball teams then. The beloved dodgers at Ebbet's Field, the Yankees at the Stadium and the Giants at the Polo grounds.
I remember the construction of the Shea Stadium for the  NY Mets on a piece of ground that until that time full of junk yards.  My father and a friend of His ran a small auto repair shop there for a while.
I have not been to many major league baseball games recently.  The last time was when my father  turned 90.  We had a family outing to watch the Mets play the Yankees at  the city stadium which replaced  the Shea.  It may be nostalgic but the new stadium does not have the ambience of Ebbet's Field.

June 11, 12 2013 "confession"

Spent the day at church office doing research.  A lady walks in and asks if she could confess to me
She was  on the 5th step of her AA recovery journey.  This got  me thinking about "confession" the sacramental kind.  Any catholic of my age remembers the "confessionals" of yesteryear.
I liked going to confession.   The box had a woody, old velvet aroma. I looked forward to the slam of the slide signaling the  priest was ready to hear my list of sins as well as the slam after absolution  It always made me sense that I had accomplished something.
I have gone to confession at fire bases in Viet Nam, dessert tents,  in cathedrals, basilica and chapels. i have gone to confession with priests of many language groups.  The result is always the same. I am absolved,I do penance and start back on the road to God.
My two favorite movies that deal with the sacrament of penance are "The Mission" and "Moonstruck".

July 9,10 2013 Buns in the oven!

There was a "cooking with the saints " class at church.  They made hot cross buns and somehow connected  them with St. Gerard Majella.
St. Gerard is Spanish and the patron of expectant mothers.  Hot cross buns are of English origin and a Lenten sweet.  Perhaps the question "Do you have a bun in the oven"? is the connection!
So should I remember pregnancy or Lent. Lets g with pregnancy.
 The only pregnancy I am intimately aware of was Paula's.
As far as I remember the first months of her first pregnancy was without incident.  i don't even remeber her getting morning sickness,  then again I was in Germany while she was in Belgium.  With the second pregnancy we were in Philadelphia, one scary moment was after some one hit her broadside in our SAAB.
Both pregnancies produced  healthy sons!  for that I a thankful to St. Gerard!
And the  hot cross buns were delicious!

July 7,8 2013 Auto Memories

yesterday i accompanied Joshua on his first foray to buy a car on his own.  I remained silently in the rear. so it got  me thinking about earlier cars I have possessed
The first car  i drove was a 1964 White corsair with red interior- yep the ralph nader special.  It came into my procession after my brother left for the air force.  It served well in those days even though mr. Nader intimated I would crash and burn.  After that there was green VW hatchback which i wrecked driving upstate in a snow storm.  MY remembrance was dim I think i went back to the Corvair. until i return from Viet nam in 1973.  I pick up a Audi 100 LS, grey metallic,  that was replaced  when i started taking my sheepdogs to shows with a  Red Pontiac station wagon.  Somewhere  along the line there was a beige OMNI which i took to Europe.  I sold that when I purchased my SAAB 900 Turbo. that was wrecked  in Philadelphia ( my all time favorite car). believe it or not it was replaced by a little red  Sentra.  I drove the sentry to Alabama and replaced it with a Ford pick up truck.  The truck was replaced with a used Crown Victoria (my second favorite car).  For years ago i purchased my present Chrysler 300

July 5, 6 2013 Momento mori,

July 5th was the fifth anniversary of my mothers demise.  A quiet day for me of reflection, Mass and Eucharistic adoration.

Its been raining for two days now which reminds me of the monsoons in Nam.  Each day the rain would come, the  ground became a thick muck. walking was a chore. See ing was a chore. One day I witnessed  a huge puddle being formed at the edge of an airstrip.  the puddle was the  size of a pond.  The amazing thing was that some villagers came with poles to fish in it.  The everlasting question was where did the the fish they were  bringing in come from?.  Have never been able to answer that!

July 1, 2, 3, 4 2013 Freedom Days

Last few days have been taken up with dissertation research and pastoral meetings.
So we have arrive at the 4th of July,  As a  youth 4th of July was usually celebrated by outdoor grilling.  The menu included hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and of course sausage and peppers. We didn't roast many marshmallows but we had cannoli's in the refrigerator or my mother's  graham cracker and chocolate pudding layered desert.
Water sports were under the sprinkler or at the fire hydrant.,We catgut fire flies, using sparklers to chase on an them . Smoldering punks were lit to ward off the mosquitoes as we sat  in front of the house waiting for the fireworks.  We stated over the tree tops of Mount Hebron Cemetery.  the sky was illuminated by the fireworks that came from "the aquacade" which was a remnant from the 1939 Worlds Fair.  ( Actually the pool we used to go to for the summer).
But to add a serious reflection here is a "poem" i wrote

                                today we celebrate liberty not license.

                      today we celebrate independence not indenturedness
                     Interdependence triumphs over autonomy on this day.

           We celebrate neither soldier or politician but the ideal they swear to uphold
             Freedom used for another is a virtue freedom used only for self is a vice.

June 28,29, 30, 2013 Danish Memories

Either I am getting real lazy about keeping up with this or my memories are fading faster than i anticipated.  Never the less lets talk about Denmark.  Why Denmark, because last night I had diner with some friends and Ann is from Denmark.
The first time I went to Denmark was really by accident  I had bought SAAB while I was stationed in SHAPE and I arranged to pick it up at the Sweden.  When I got on the train in Brussels, i asked for a ticket to Copenhagen. For some reason I was under the impression that Copenhagen was the capital of Sweden.  When I arrived in Copenhagen I showed a cab driver the address of the dealer I had to go to to pick up my car.  Through his howls of laughter he informed me that not only was I in the wrong city but i was in the wrong country.  But he did take me to a ferry by which i could reach Sweden.
The second time I was in Denmark was the summer of 1989.  We were on terminal leave and fulfilling a promise to Joshua to go to LEGOLAND.  We drove from Italy to Denmark (in my Swedish SAAB).
That summer was very hot.  On our day at LEGOLAND it was 98F.  There is no air conditioning any where in Denmark, let alone our hotel.  We went to a city swimming pool the next day.
In the pool playing with Josh I was slowly surrounded by a group of Danish kids.  All of them giggling and pointing and saying something in Danish.  A nice Danish gentlemen scooted them away with what sounded like some stern Danish words.  I asked them what they were giggling at.  He told me that because of my body hair they thought i was  bear.

June 24-27, 2013 Joseph,my brother!

As you can note I have not blogged for the past days. Today, my eldest brother Joseph retired after 43 years working for Con Edison.  We are 14 months apart. We shared a bedroom as kids.  In times of disagreement we would run a  string down the center of the room to delineate our borders.  Joe and I worked together as dish washers at the Queens Terrace and bus boys at Ricky's.  We went to Boy Scout camp together.  He enlisted in the Air Force serving most of his duty in South East Asia.  He, like many Viet Nam Vets, came  home to a nation who did not want to hire them.  Con Ed did, so for  43 years Joseph commuted and trudged to work.  Taking a bus, a train and walking to an office in Manhattan.
I remember the day of his marriage to Susan and the  reception we had at the at the local VFW hall.  He is the father of Joey and Gina and the proud grandfather of three.   Joseph is my hero as example of a dedicated husband, father and worker.

June 22,23 2013 Work Experiences

Most of these days are spent trying to retain latin declensions and conjugations so my mind is never quite free for memories.  However, since i received some news from the Alabama Department of Labor concerning my unemployment status let me remember my first jobs.  From my freshman high school year  i washed dishes on the weekend for a large catering house called the Queens Terrace. The Terrace was capable of seating and feeding 2500 people for afternoon events and then again for evening events. Has any one ever washed 5000 fruit cups, 5000 plates, 5000 cups and saucers  etc etc.  This was done all by hand, we had no machines.  In the summer of my junior year of high school I was given a position with the NYC Department of Public Works.  It was my responsibility to test the water in the final vats of a sewage treatment plant.

June 20, 21 2013 The Last Days of School!

Learned today that my great niece LLL finished 3rd grade and got promoted to 4th grade.        Congratulations to her and to JJJ and DDD, my great nephews.
We were allowed to bring board games to school. No power source was  required to play Parchessi, Monopoly, Scrabble, or Clue!
The last days of school were always somewhat busy. Not with learning but with helping the teachers and staff get the schools equipment ready for its summer hiatus.
We were "urged" to help in the closing days.  There was much to be done. We  cleaned, washed and dried the erasers.  We washed the blackboards. Cleaned out the trash cans.  Remove the brown paper bag book covers from the textbooks that were returned.  Inventory and stack the textbooks.  Applying furniture polish to the wooden desks.
The last days were great days!

June 18,19 2013 Anniversary Memories!!

31st   anniversary , the first of the four greatest days in my life.  the others being the birth of my sons Joshua (March 6) and John (March 14) and Ordination Day.
Paula and I were married in Belgium, on this day .  The evening before was busy, being assisted by fiends to set up for the  reception at the newly built German Parish Center.  The German Catholic Chaplain was most accommodating allowing us to be the first to use the facility. In Belgium the couple has to marry before the civil authority and then before the church's minister.
We had made our appointment and the mayor of the city of Mons was to officiate.  Paula drove herself to the city hall.  She was late!  Because of the narrow streets of the town she got stuck behind  a double parked car whose occupant  went into a shop for a prolonged period.
When she finally arrived she looked beautiful with a crown of flowers in her hair.
Remembering that the Americans had liberated the town from the Nazis The mayor was most happy to marry "two American soldiers".  In fact he gave a rousing oration about how wonderful it was that day when the Americans got rid of the #$%^!&^** German pigs.  It was a little bit uncomfortable since Paula was once stationed in Germany and we had some of her  German friends as guests.  Fortunately he spoke in French and the Germans did not  understand it.
After the brief civil ceremony there was a prolonged period of document signing by us, our witnesses, the mayor and some advocate.
We then went to the post chapel where our sacramental celebration was presided over by a Irish Catholic military  chaplain, the vicar Fr. Mc Ghee.  The celebration was held at the German Catholic Pastoral Catholic Center.  The  food and drink was catered by an Army cook.  The music was dj'ed by my best man Bruce Becker.  He went so far as  to pick out "our song" for "our dance".    Neither I nor paula had heard it before.
The reception went well except  for the fact that now our Belgium friends were hesitant to enter a building constructed by Germans because of their war time memories.
In the end everyone got along- I assume since there were no shots fired!
As the reception came to a close, we left for a honeymoon weekend.  We drive up to a seaside resort on the North Sea- its Francophone name was "Coq sur Mer"  (literally rooster on the sea).
We had a great time but had to return to work the following Monday.
Its been a great 31 years and  look forward to more. We have established  a "partnership of the whole of life".

June 17, 2013 Delayed prison memories

Last Friday Paula and I visited the showroom of the Alabama Correctional Industries.  There have prisoners who construct furniture and make  them available for  non profits.  Paula was shopping for her new library.  But it got me to think of my interaction with prisons.
As an New york EMT we were often called to the "infamous tombs"  the central jail of the city.  The endless locked cages were impressive.  It would often take us 15 minutes to get to the patient.  The sound of the locks resetting them selves behind you is truly an eerie sound.
As an anesthesia student in San Francisco we rotated to San Quentin Penitentiary.  My first patient was a huge man who had been convicted for ax killing his wife and her parents.  We had to take out his tonsils.

June 15,16, 2013 Fathers Day

so lets talk Fathers.  Dad is now 93 years old.  he became a Dad On February 12, 1947 with the birth of my elder  brother Joseph.
  My visual remembrance of Dad is  his wearing of blue work clothes.  His name, JOE, was embroidered on his right pocket.  The name of his employer, McGrottey Chevrolet,  was embroidered on the left.  Part of his  "uniform" was that he wore a "garrison belt"  a wide  black belt.  The  attempt to unloosen the belt was always a sign that you have transgressed some boundary.  I don't recall the belt ever coming off, but it was a threatening act.  Dad finished grade school and came of age during the Depression. He shone shoes to earn money.  He was a hardworking  auto mechanic for all his life.  He would come home from his regular job and then work in our garage doing "side jobs" until late in the night.  Dad was not a hands on Dad but he was provider.  He managed to raise the five of us.

Dad's dad, my grandfather Donato, was an Italian veteran of the First World war.  He and my grandmother emigrated to the US when my Dad was only three months old.  He is listed as a shoemaker on his emigration documents.  He was an emotionally distant grandfather, probably because he suffered from being "shell shocked" during the war.

Mom's Dad , Giuseppe,  is remembered  as having the shakes (parkinson disease).  In spite of his tremors he shaved everyday with a straight razor.  He drank his coffee out of a bowl dunking day old bread.  He  made his own wine and tenderly cared for his fig tree.

Both Giuseppe Paladino and Donato Laurita were part of  our lives but not in any "intimate" way.

June 14, 2013 Flag Day

in grammar school we had different kinds of monitors.  there was the milk monitor that brought in the crates of mild and distributed them for snack time. there was the the audio visual monitor who helped set up the film strip projectors. there was the attendance monitor who gather the  teachers attendance record to bring them to the office.  there was the safety monitor who assisted at the crosswalks.  But the highest monitor to be was the flag monitors.  They were responsible for the unfolding, raising, lowering and the folding of the flag.  This was daily routine in the school yard of PS 120.  All the students were lined up in their respective places  as the flag monitors did their ceremony.  The all  recited the pledge of allegiance and sang God bless america.  at the conclusion of the day the monitors alone went out to bring down the flag and fold it in its required triangular form and was placed on the  desk of the principle.

June11,12 2013 Walls

Today was the anniversary of the speech President Reagan made asking for the Berlin Wall to come down.  It was 1961 when it went up, I was freshman in High School.  It was the current events of the time.  Twenty years later I had the opportunity to view the wall.  1981 while stationed in Belgium I took the trip to Berlin.  Special permission had to be made to board the train Frankfurt.  It was an overnight train and as we passed through East Germany the window shades had to be drawn.  There were no stops in East Germany until you were in West Berlin.  In West Berlin you were pretty free to roam about, until you reached the area in front of the Wall.  It structure itself did not seem that massive to me but the mine field on the other side was pretty impressive as well as the presence of the armed soviet troops.
Recently, on a trip to Israel I was also confronted by another wall.  This was the wall that surrounded the city of Bethlehem.  Another structure to keep people apart because of their ideologies and fears of the other.  On this day I hope that a wall will never be built around my country.  On this day I pray that walls will come down!

June 10, 2013 Electrical Mischief

This is the day that Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity.  So a mischievous electrical story.  In my high school we were all required to take metal shop.  we lathed metal products.  As a result we produced a lot of metallic shavings.  We would begin collecting the shavings toward the end of the school year.  Most of us go to school by the GG subway line, the Flatbush Avenue stop.  On the last day of school we would take pocketfuls of the metal shavings.  While waiting for the train we would fling the metal shavings at the third rail.  For those unfamiliar with the subway lingo, the third rail was the high powered electrical source that animated the subway.
When our shavings made contact with that third rail the sparks would fly, making for quite an end of school year "fireworks". One year, so many shavings made contact at the same time that we shorted out  the power at the Flatbush Avenue GG subway stop.  It  took a few hours for the power to be reestablished and the GG ran again.  Try explaining that as the reason for coming home late from school.

June 8,9 Belmont and a Road Not Travelled

Enjoyed watching the Belmont Stakes yesterday.  Realized that today is the 40 th anniversary of Secretariats win of the Triple Crown.  so what is the memory connected to that.  Todays memory is about a road not taken.  As a high school student I had a weekend job at a local veterinarian office. Cleaning dog cages, feeding the  animals, assisting the doctor.  The doctor had both a  small animal practice and at the same time he was the  vet for  the two race tracks in NY-  Aqueduct and Belmont.
He was also on the admission board of Cornell School of Veterinarian Medicine.
Being well connected he offered me a certain admission to Cornell and the vet school, if i were to agree to come back to his practice.  Being  altruistic, foolish and naive I turned it down because my youthful dream was to become a surgeon. I thought that entry into med school would be solely based on grades rather than political connections.  I was wrong!
If i had accepted the vet's office I could have been the assisting vet at Belmont that day that Secretariat made history.

June 7, 2013 National Donut Day

I have been good and have not consumed a dozen donuts today.  But since this is a day to remember donuts her here are my memories.
Saturday, morning was donut day in our house ( actually we alternated between donuts and bagels)  Two dozen were bought at  Dunkin Donuts were bought by Dad.  on these occasions one of us wold accompany him to pick out the flavors.  I always liked the chocolate  glazed cake donut.
24 donuts divided amongst  five boys and their parents did not come out to a even number.  There was always the issue of the 3 remaining donuts.  The would go into the "breadbox" but by mid afternoon they were  mysteriously consumed.

In fifth grade  we took a class trip to Dunkin Donuts to "observe " the process.  We were even allowed to operate the machine that filled the donuts with either  jelly or cream.  Control of a powered jelly extruder should not be given over to  5th grade boys.  Just saying!

Of course my favorite  remembrance was when my grandmother and mother would make "zeppole".  Not quite a donut, more of a donut hole.  It was a fried sweet batter,  covered with powdered sugar!!

June 5,6 2013 D-Day

D-Day 1944, 6603 American lives were lost to reestablish liberty and freedom.
I have visited the Normandy Beaches twice.  Standing on the cliffs near a now silent Nazi bunker, I was eerily impressed with the clear scope of sight they over  the incoming troops. While over 40 years had passed when i was there one was able to hear the sound of guns hailing death down on the Allied troops.
From the beach it self  you can look up to the bunkers. What was eerie at the top was frightening from the shore.  The beach at Normandy does not invite you to frolicsome fun activities.  The beaches of Normandy reeks of blood even decades later.  There are no waves at this beach, there is a constant ebb and flow of water that remains cold all the days of the year.
Not far from the beaches there is the cemetery,  Row after row of headstones and yet they are not all here.  Some are under the sea.
An 18 year soldier  that survived that day, would be 87 today.  On that day he carried 80 lbs of battle equipment, today he probably walks with assistance.  On that day he probably shook with angst today he probably shakes with disease.  On that day he had a "questionable" future , today he has only the past.
D-Day brings memories of a "smaller" invasion I took part in on the shore of the Mekong river. The view was different but the senses are the same.  Blood and gunfire always is acrid, it burns the soul.

June 3, 4 2013 Squemish

There was a drowned squirrel in the pool that i had to retrieve.  So my memory goes back to my stint with the NYC medical examiner.  The task was to go throughout the city to collect corpses.  The worst task was when you were called to the waterways surrounding NYC to extract "floaters. The most popular place for bodies to come up was Jamaica Bay.  Following that the pylons around the bridges seemed to be magnets for waterlogged bodies.
The bodies were difficult to handle.  They were bloated, odoriferous and fragile.  It was not unusual that when you lifted them parts would separate.
When a call to retrieve a floater came over the radio, the race was to see who could get their last.

June 2, 2013 Tacky memories

Just read two internet stories concerning disease. Michael Douglas confessed that the source of his throat cancer was HPV.  Therefore, it was a sexually transmitted disease.  Another report was about a woman who contracted herpes from using a public tube of lipstick.  So what memory stems from this.
Public health training!  Part of my education was in public health nursing with two organization. One was the NYC Department of Health.  As students, we  reported to a public health clinic where we spent our time doing STD cultures.  If it came up positive,  we gave the required two penicillin shots.  We also had to do a "chart" of their sexual contacts, then had to contact the "contacts".
The second organization was the Brooklyn Visiting Nurse Services. We went into "public housing projects" where we confronted a number of different pathologies.  The most prominent and most heart breaking were the victims of "tertiary syphilis" .  You  need to google that!  We also saw tuberculosis and  "plague".

May 31, June 1 2013 A non sequitor remembrance

Yesterday i once again was studying  the latin subjunctive so i fell asleep before posting.  This  morning, June 1,  i was studying the latin gerund and gerundive.
While all this was going on Paula was watching Star wars on TV.  Now I am not a big science fiction fan but I do remember meeting one of their giants.
It was the summer of 1964 between my junior and senior year of high school.  I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to be a "Junior research assistant" at the Rockefeller Institute which was not far from Columbia University. That may sound fancy but I mostly washed lab equipment for a real research assistant and was a gofer.  The  researcher was studying hemoglobin. One day as I was cleansing test tubes  a man walked into the lab. He had  mutton chop sideburns.  He asked me "what  I was doing". to which a replied "i am cleaning these test tubes"?.  "What was in them"? he inquired, I said "dried up blood".  He then walked away.  Later, I was told that I had a three sentence conversation with Isaac Asminov.  Dr. Asminov was a noted science fiction writer.  He  concocted the three laws of robotics  and wrote  hundreds of science fiction novels and short stories.   In addition he was a world renown biochemist and an expert on the protein  molecule we call hemoglobin.

The segue from latin to having a brush  with the famous is week. but  this is what popped into my mind when!

May 30, 2013 Telephone Shopping

Shopping for a new mobile phone got me to thinking about the phone of the past and how it was used.
First, remembrance when phones were not mobile.  They were stationery then. They either sat on a desk/table or hung on a wall.  If you were away from home  you had to enter a big coffin like box, put some  coins in a slot and dial a number by spinning a wheel. The clicking of the dial was the assurance that the number you wanted was effectively entered.  If you didn't have the coins you could dial O and tell another human being (the operator who was always a lady) to reverse the charges.  That  in itself was a test of the degree of friendship.  If the other party  would not accept the charges they were either not close family or close friend.
The phone number began with two letters which which represented a word.  Our home number began with IN- Independence, My Aunts number was HI- Hickory, My Grandparents was FL- Flatbush.

The first phone I recall was a black box device that sat on a round "phone table" .  There was actually a piece of furniture specifically designed for that purpose.  It was two layered table. On the second layer sat a "phone book", actually two books, the white pages for personal numbers and the yellow pages which was for business.
The second phone i remembered was a pink phone that hung on the kitchen wall.  My mother  often used that phone to make a faux call to the "bad boys home" when we misbehaved.  It  took awhile for us to figure out that the voice on the other end was that of my Aunt Mary who was duplicitous in this attempt to get us to behave.

My first phone as an adult was a "princess phone".   I also recall that one didn't buy a phone  one merely subscribed for the service from the singular service provider "AT & T. ( the American Telegraph and Telephone  Company).  The company provided the phone.

Phones back then  provided for oral to aural communication, only.
Today i had to think about whether i wanted a camera, whether i wanted an android or apple sytsem, if  i wanted 3G, 4S or 4 G, a qwerty key board or a touchscreen   Not to mention the provider- AT& T, Bing, T mobile, Virgin, or Verizon.
There were so many choices that i could not make a choice,  I long for the "old days of simplicity".

May 29, 2013 Child protection memories!

Had to attend a Child Safety Certification Class.  It brought to mind some childhood memories that today would be suspect  Among them were swimming classes at the local YMCA.  For some reason the classes were held,  What we used to refer to as BA (bare ass),  with no bathing suits.
The Boy Scout leaders were always in the tents with us.  The Little League coach would regularly buy us ice cream. After football practice or games we all showered together, including the coaches.  Some of this today would be identified as "grooming".  I had to take the subway to high school, without adult supervision. On the subway getting "grabbed" was not unusual. The many times  I spent in the ER getting patched up from falls and accidents would today be "signs of abuse" that would incur investigation.  We trick or treated by ourselves often going into the homes to get  the treat.
I don't mean to demean what we must do to protect our children but  just some memories

May 28, 2013 early nursing memories

A young man was referred to me seeking a job.  He is a fresh new BSN graduate. I was flattered that i was approached but it certainly brought back memories of my early nursing career.  After graduating I was immediately back in the Army.  I had opted to specialize in operating room nursing at first.
The  schooling at that time was a 6 month program.  I was sent to Walson Army Hospital in Fort Dix NJ.  It was a pretty busy OR. The morning would start with us washing down the Operating rooms.  We would then prepare the instruments to be ready for the surgeons arrival at 0700.  Between each case the room had to be re washed.  After the days surgeries we went to central supply .We made our own  saline solutions,  washed and processed bloody lap pads, sharpen our own needles  on a whetstone, make suture packs, prepare dressings, folded gowns and masks, and sterilized equipment.  all of which today is pre done by the manufacturers of disposables.  Back then everything was reusable.

The surgical procedures were all open,  no mini incisions, no '''oscopies of any kind.  The anesthetic agents waifed through the air.  Ether , chloroform, cyclopropane- it was a wonder our livers did not cease to  function.  At the end of the week we were required to empty all the shelves of equipment , wipe every thing with alcohol.

An OR nurses job was never done!

May 26, 27 2013 Quiet Memories!

Memorial Day! No time for shopping Just remembering those who were at my left and my right!  exiting the plane in Ton Son Nhut air base. Gazing to the left to see a stack of coffins being prepared to return home! Gazing to my right to see a convoy of ambulances with the wounded being prepared to be evacuated.

Dallas, who picked up a booby trapped toy! rest in peace!

Not only those who died but those whose lives were marred from their time in combat.
My Uncle Willie, who survived WW II  was at D Day and  liberated a death camp, who found it difficult to love.

My paternal grandfather who was "shell shocked" in WWI who found it difficult to communicate.

May 25, 2013 Graduations and Limoncello

Going the a party celebrating the daughter of a friend high school graduation kicked  a memory of my graduations in the past.
there was none from 6th grade to junior high school. I left junior high school to go to high school.  High school graduation from Brooklyn Tech was less then personal.  our school had 2000 graduates.  Even though the auditorium was the second largest in the city (second only to radio city music hall).  we still had to graduate in stages.  A-L names graduated in the AM, M-Z in the after PM.
 there was no grand march of my cohort of 1000.  we merely sat with or families Our designated position was in the right side of the balcony.  Our name were called and we stood in our places.  no marching across the stage.  Can you imagine how long it took to read off 1000 names.  Thankfully mine was at the end but my friend Nat Abramson had to stand for a very long time.
We went back to  our home room classroom to actually get the diploma. The most memorable part of high school graduation was that the ladies in the brothels that surrounded the school stood on their stoops and applauded us when we exited the school in our caps and gowns.
College graduation was in a open field between  the LIU Campus on Flatbush avenue and the Fort Greene Park on DeKalb Ave.  That was not a pleasant neighbor at the time so we we had assigned  mounted (on horseback) police officers surrounding the ceremony.  To put this in perspective watch the movie Serpico.  LIU was in his precinct.

Now on to the Limoncello. The father of the graduate has some on ice so we shared a glass(es).
The first time I tasted limoncello was in Rome. Paula and I were there celebrating an anniversary.  Our waiter was a blond man from Naples (that initself was surprise).  After a superb dinner they brought us digestivos.  To paula they presented a chilled  limoncello.  to me they presented a chilled grappa.
having tasted the limoncello i asked if i could have some.  I was instructed  that in Italy limoncello was "soltante per la femina." " per l'oumo sempre grappa".  Who would think  liquours had gender.

To all the graduates out there a bit of advice.  "allow yourself to make a mistake and learn from it.  Its good for the soul!"

May 24, 2013 Bittersweet Memory

I had to ask permission.  It is a bittersweet memory of my first wedding date in 1969.  The sweet part is. I was the groom and Marguerite (nee Hoffmann) was the bride.  We met through a fraternity brother.  she was from Rennselear NY, the daughter of a dairy farmer studying at the Fashion Institue.  I was who I am .  We had dated for two years after I had won her telephone number in a fraternity poker game. Our decision to marry made us the first to marry in our circle of friends and in my generation.  We planned and payed for the wedding ourselves.  We were married at Blessed Sacrament Church in Bayside NY.  Our reception was at the River View, underneath the Throgs Neck Bridge.  We honeymooned in Montreal.
The bitter part was that the marriage did not last bu two years.  We got caught up in initial careers  pressure.  She worked for the children's division of Izod. I was attending  school fulltime and working fulltime.  I would leave our apartment on Otis Ave at 6AM go to school then began work at 4 PM until midnight. as well as it being the heady days of woman's liberation.  The marriage ended physically in 1971 when i returned to Viet Nam, legally in 1976 when we finally divorced.  It took a while longer for the emotional end and healing.

May 23, 2013 End of School

The time of school ending and graduation.  There was "graduation from kindergarten"  which is something I never expereinced.  The end of kindergarten for  me occurred with little fan fare.  Except for the trip to the ER for stitches.  I was running down the block toward my mother who happened to be standing in front of a brick pedestal.  Miscalculating my approach and my rate of deceleration, I managed to fun head first into the corner of the brick wall.  At the same time the ice-cream man was coming down the block.  As my head profusely bled the Good Humor man rang his bells.  Because none of the ladies on the block drove I was transported to the hospital  by the ice cream man.
 The  move from sixth grade to junior high school was also non descript.  Well except for Mrs.Tailfairs final burst of anger.  Our desks were equipped with brass ink wells.  One of my classmates did something she perceived as outrageous.  She flung the inkwell at the perpetrator, but since i was at the desk in front of him I got tagged.
i never graduated from junior I merely transferred form being a eighth grader to being a freshman at high school.

May 21, 22, 2013 oriental diversion

Was down with allergies last night thus no blog post.  Paula prepared some chicken terriyaki.  While it is Japanese it brought on a memory of Chines restaurants.  The one that that comes to mind was Lucky's.. It was one  my family frequented.  It was located on Northern Blvd in Flushing.  At the time it was  the only Chinese restaurant in town.  (now Flushing is another  Little orient in New York, there is some form of oriental restaurant on every block).  But back to Lucky's. I recall huge black banquettes.  the walls were trimmed in Red Chinese lanterns.  There was no buffets back then.  You ordered off a menu.  depending on how many in your party there were choices from column A and choices from column B.   Some times there was even a column C. Tea was always hot.   Lobster Cantonese was a family favorite along with sweet and sour  shrimp. Peking duck had to be preordered but it brought  smacks to my lips. The food came out covered in what to me seemed  like "silver" servers but i am certain it was not that  elegant.  Any way when the waiter came out there were multiples of these silver domed platters placed on the table.  I enjoyed hearing the clanging of the metal covers being removed with an oriental flair by the mustachioed waiter.  While the waiters were very polite to us customers there was a always a cacophony of loud voices coming from the kitchen every time the door swung open.
The dessert for me was always pineapple with lychees eaten with toothpicks
Lucky's was a favorite of mine and I always rejoiced when we had the opportunity to go there.  The present ubiquitous Chinese buffets with their pre prepared and predictable choices will never replace Lucky's.

May 21, 2013 General Practioners

Trying to find a new family practitioner (since our last one left town) got me to thinking about family doctors.  The first one I recall was Dr. MIlazzo. I was told that he was the one who delivered me.  Dr. Milazzo had an office attached to his home.  we were not a very sickly family but i do remember some visits to treat  a case of teenage eczema,  Which then was treated with oatmeal washes and badges to prevent me from scratching.  While I was not very sickly, however,  I was bit  accident prone.  Frequently, I had to go to the office to receive or to remove of stitches. Dr. Milazzo had a pencil mustache and was a tall stately man.  In his office waiting room I would thumb through the pages of the American Medical Journal. Because I had an interest in things medical he once introduced me to a friend of his.  Frank Netter, unbeknownst to me at the time,  was a famed anatomic artist.
The next family doctor was  Dr. Calabra  who cared for my grandparents in their elder years.  I recall when my maternal grandmother came to live with us at the end of her life.  His treatment regime was to give her a glass of brandy at night to help her rest.  Medicine then was more humanistic.  Dr. Calabra also taught me how to read EKG's when I was preparing for my paramedic certification.  His principal advise was to "cherchez  la P".  Look for the  P wave.
Just to remind myself and  others.  In the past these MD were called general practitioners.  They delivered babies, removed tonsils, treated heart  attacks, fixed hernias, and provided what is now called hospice care.

May 19, 2013 Ordination Mass of Thanksgiving

A continuation of  yesterdays blog. On the Sunday after ordination we celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving per the tradition.  It took place at the Post Chapel of Fort Dix, in the presence of the St. Joseph Military Catholic Community.  Present were Paula, young Joshua who was 4 years old at the time.  Family and friends had gathered again.  A colleague  Ray Baird was the cantor. Music was supplied by my friend from the past Gregory Leonardo who at the time was Christian Brother teaching music in Maryland.  Greg is a most accomplished organist.  We were friends and fraternity brothers since  college.  The principal celebrant was Father Higgiston.  Malachi was an army chaplain and my sponsoring priest through the  formation.  Again in accordance to tradition, at the thanksgiving mass another is the homilist.  Fr. Malachi assumed that role with delight as he did all his priestly duties.
This was the day I assumed my responsibility as servant to the People of God of this community.  However, my role there was short lived.  Within two months of ordination I received military orders to transfer to the Army Hospital at Camp Ederle in Vicenza , Italy.  It was there that my ministry began anew.  The Sunday after ordination was a day of joy and hope.

"Gaudium et spes"

May 18,2013 Ordination

I have changed the way i title the blog entries.  One because I am finding it difficult to keep up with the day count and two to give the reader some preview of what the days entry is about.

This is the 3rd Saturday of the May which coincides to ordination day in 1986  After three years of formation, prayer and discernment the day had come for the  "laying on of hands".

Paula was in the Cathedral of Saint St. Mary in Trenton N.J with family and friends.  While i was lining up with fourteen other ordinandi.  Before us were Bishop John Reiss and his auxiliary Bishop Kmeic followed by the the priests of the Diocese and my Chaplain pastor Fr.. Malachy Higgiston.  The music began with the grand chords form the organ.  The choir had been formed from various choirs of the diocese sang loudly. Upon our entrance the people stood in quiet reception.  The Liturgy of the Word was proclaimed by two of the groups wives.  Paula was one of them.  Her role there elevated the event for me, for with her  unwavering support i probably would not have gotten there.  The homilist, an older deacon reminded us of the challenge that laid before us in particular he said "you will always be answering the question of what is a deacon" then he paraphrased St. Francis by saying our response to that should come more so by what we do rather than what you say so make your response exemplified by how you serve the  People of God.  I pray that i have done his bidding.

The ordination rite is simple yet profoundly moving.

First, our wives were asked to grant permission for us to receive Holy Orders! Following this was the intonation of Litany of the Saints. The posture at this time was for each of us to lie face down on the marble floor of the Cathedral as the members of the Church Triumphant were implored for their intercession.  Although 14 others were lying around me, I felt serenely alone. We then proceeded to the seated Bishop who placed a Book of the Gospels in each of our hands as we knelt before him. The words that accompanied this act were "Receive the Book of the Gospels,whose herald you now are,  Believe what you Read, Teach what you Believe and Live what you Teach!"  Whether or not I have accomplished that will be judged by others.

The prayer of ordination was said and then each bishop silently laid  his hands  upon her heads as the Choir intoned  Venite Spiritu Sanctus.  We vowed our obedience to the Bishop and his successors.  We were then vested in our new stoles and dalmatics.  As the Mass continued i served as the deacon of the altar.  For the first time I prepared the cup with the silently said words,  "By the mingling  of this water and and wine we have come to share in your divinity as you humbled yourself to share in or humanity"

Day 30 May 17, 2013

Today was a stormy day. so storms are the subject of the memory.
In NYC the most dreaded storm is the snow storm.  Most new yorkers hate snow because it tends to jam things up for a while.  As a young lad i hated snow because it always meant that I had to shovel it. In my teenage years the family was living in the suburbs of Flushing Queens.  Dad had built a huge garage in the back of the property.  leading up to the garage was a long asphalt driveway.  it was about 150 feet long.  not long by rural standards but there was the paternal insistence that it be absolutely free of snow both during and after the storm.  We often shoveled while it was still storming down snow which is  always a futile effort.

Viet Nam led me to despise the torrential rains of the monsoons. They turned everything and everybody into mud.  While living in El Paso the sandstorms blasted the finish over my first new car.  (My Audi 100 S).  My appreciation of tornadoes came about in Enterprise, AL.  Driving home from  the post  there was a tornado damaged roadway.  On the left everything was turned about.  On the right everything remained pristine.

Storms, I believe are Gods nature's reminders that we are not in control.  so when there is a storm I lay back, take a nap, let Gods nature do its thing. Upon arising I go about to survey what has happened and offer thanksgiving if nothing dreadful happened  and a hand if something did.  Which reminds me of an old song lyric.

"when you walk through a storm keep your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark.
for at the end of the storm there is a golden sky and the sweet simple song of a lark.  Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart ...and you will never walk alone!"

Day 29 May 15, 2013

today is the  birthday of the oscar awards.  So my memories are about movies and movie theaters.
First theaters.  The theater that frequented the most was the RKO Keiths on Northern Blvd and Main Street.  It was an elegant art deco edifice with two grand curving stairs ascending from the lobby to the balcony. the lobby was illuminated by grand golden chandeliers. the carpeting was a deep maroon, the seats were a plush velour. even in the 60's there was a grand organ which was sometimes played before the cartoons started.
that brings to mind that back in my memory time a matinee showing included a cartoon or two and a double feature. my favorite movies the movie musicals of the  50's early 60's.  Westside story, fiddler on the roof, gigi, A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum,  to name a few.  my still all time favorite drama favorite is "marty" .  I enjoyed the war movies and some of the grand westerns. of the era.  As a critique, none of the movies had explosive special effect which today is an excuse for lack of talent.  Movies to me need to tell the human story, that causes  you to emote!

Day 28 May 15, 2013

Another linguistic and travel memory!  My first trip to Italy in 1979 to connect with roots.  After Venice, Florence, and Rome I made my way to Pietragalla, the town of my paternal ancestors.  To get to Pietragalla one takes a train from Rome to Naples, From Naples to Potenza, from Potenza to Pietragalla.  With each change the trains got smaller.  The last was the locomotive and a single car.
Pietragalla is a village on a mountaintop.  It is separated fro the train station by a valley.
There was a man on the rain that offered  me a ride to the town.  In searching for  "mia cugini" I found the center of the village where there was a war monument.  The monument had the name "Laurita" inscribed on three sides.  I finally found the relatives my grandmother had been writing to.  They lived in rural farm house.  While they welcomed me it was difficult to understand their rural dialect.  They contacted another nephew who was a police officer in Potenza.  When he arrived our conversation was multi lingual.  I formed my words in English spoke theme in rudimentary Italian. He translated my rudimentary italian to the  dialect..  The process was reversed with the exchange.
When super was prepared I was served a heaping plate of pasta with a sauce flavored by chicken feet. The chicken feet was also served and since i was the honored cousin from America I was served two feet to their one.

Day 27 May 14, 2013

Spent most of today studying Latin, so perhaps some memory about language studies.
In high school I did not have the opportunity to study language (because we were concentrating on science and math).  However, I spent a lot of time with grandparents and family friends who spoke, by that time, a Brooklynized version of Italian.  At high school graduation I  was accepted to Queens College but i could not matriculate until I took two semesters over the summer of a foreign language.  When it came time to register I had planned to enroll in Italian, unfortunately the Italian class was closed out. I then went to the Spanish line and found that was also closed out, the same for French  All the romance languages were gone.  There were only two languages open to enroll in.  One was Russian and the other German.  I was so disappointed.  I figured that  Russian was another  alphabet so i enrolled in German.  Unfortunately when I got to class I found that the other 6 students in this abbreviated German class were all of German descent.  While I was trying to learn to count to 10 and distinguish between der , die and das the others were reading Kafka's Metamorphesus.  Needless to say my grades were abysmal.  My first two earned college grades were D and D-.  I was not off to a good start,  but since i "passed"  i was able to matriculate!

Day 25&26 May 12 &13, 2013

To my readers my apologies for my tardiness.Sunday, of course was Mother's Day.  So some memories of  her.  Theresa Palladino was born to Giuseppe and Dorotea Palladino (nee Lotito)in 1924.  She was the middle of three daughters , Mary was the eldest and Mildred was the youngest. She spent  most of her life at 147 31 Street in Brooklyn NY. In 1943, at the age of 19 she married  Joseph Laurita.
In 1947, Joseph her eldest son was born, 14 months later myself was born, 1950 was the year that Gerald was birthed followed by Thomas in 1952.  It was 9 years later in 1961 that the youngest Robert came into the family.  She spent her life rearing us five.  She never learned to drive so she was always there when we came home from school.  Usually, she was having coffee and cake with neighbor ladies when we arrived.  My mother was a great cook. A skill she learned from my grandmothers which she passed on to her sons and daughters-in law.  My wife has most of her recipes.  Pictures proved that she partied with friends, sisters and in-laws at the famed Copacabana.  She enjoyed singing to the standards of Frank Sinatra and others of what I call "saloon singers"! She taught me to dance the Lindy Hop and the Tarantella.  She was proud of her family and her heritage.
My mother passed to eternal life in July,2008.  We visited her grave on this Mother's Day!

After the visit, we  went to my  brother Josephs house for a Sunday. Since we had a great Italian "festa" for Dominic's First Holy Communion  Joe prepared a roast beef.   This of course rendered another memory of mom. For our big holiday dinners Mom would also making whatever any of her grandchildren desired .  Roast beef, chicken and ham were often prepared to satisfy those desires./

At our Mother's Day table there were gathered Joe' wife Susan. The mother of Joey and Gina. Gina is the mother of Lia, Joey and his wife Jeanie who is the mother of Joseph, Anna and one who is to be announced in July.  Audra with her son Dominic.  Remembered and talked about was Gerry, Audra's brother,  whose wife Eliza bore Jesse. (They live in Arizona).
Of course lest I forget there was also Paula who brought life to Joshua and John, my two sons!

May 13 was our day to travel the air to return to Alabama.  

Day 23 & 24 May 10 & 11

Yesterday was day of travel as paula, josh and I came north to attend my great nephew ,Dodd, first communion.  Ddd is the son of my niece Audra and Chris . Ddd deals with autism. This was a most meaningful First Holy Communion for all seven of the young folk, three of whom were first baptized.
After mass presided over by a jovial Franciscan we made our way to some festivities arranged by my brother Tom, my brother in law harry through there friend Michael.  Food and wine flowed freely. Conversation was abundant.  It went on for five hours of joviality.
It brought happy rembrances of all the sacraments we have witnessed. Wheneverone of us five received a sacrament or anty of my cousins there was always a party, usuall at our house.
My mother and aunts would prepare what is a standard. Peppers and sausage, various pastas, eggplants parmigiana, chicken parmigiana. Then out came the desserts. Cookies from the Italian bakery, a special cake, coffee.
All of that was done for young Ddd.
My first communion took place at st Rocco's church on 27th street Brooklyn. I recall the rehearsals over seen by an Italian Monsignor whose name I have forgotten. As we rehearsed he made sure that we remembered that as we genuflect at the pew our right knee had to touch the ground for a count  of three. ,his method was to push down any floating knee with his cane.  It has been a long time since I have been able to do a full genuflection.  
Of course back then first communion, any communion was done kneeling at a rail which made it feel more like an assembly line then the first intimate moment with Christ. But I digress.
All the boys dressed in blue suits, white shirts with a buster brown collar, a white ribbon cravat and a white ribbon festooned on or left arm. I was glad to see Dddin his suit with a great Bowtie.
Little boys in suits look angelic .  I looked angelic.
First Holy Communion, is the first time we say yes to Jesus, on our own. It is a time of sweetness and hope.  My hope is that all first communicants, especially Ddd , we say yes many times over.

Ad multos annos

Day 22- May 9, 2013

Been down with a spring cold all day. so my memory was my first sick day the Army. Actually it may have been a febrile hallucination. It was during basic at fort dix.  woke up (rather I was awoken) by the drill sergeants voice beckoning us to arise.  I was feeling a little puny. In line for  inspection before PT when the SGT came by me i started  coughing up what seem to me was the right lower lobe of my lung.  The SGT sent me to sick call.  Waiting with about 100 other guys we were shuffled through the medics.  One took our  temperatures,  another checked  for neck rigidity ( meningitis was a big concern, those who complained  about neck pain was sent for a spinal tap) the third  listened to our chest. and the fourth looked at our throats and took a culture.  At the end of the line was the GMO (general medical officer)  or the guy who graduated medical school last week.  He diagnosed me and just about everyone else with "impending pneumonia".  The treatment was a PCN shot and a bottle of green liquid.  With the instruction to "take a swig every time you start coughing. Oh and by the way get some rest."

The shot hurt, but the green liquid was soothing.  I learned that the principle ingredient in the green liquid was 100 proof EtOH (grain alcohol).  Their was also some codeine. Getting rest in an open barrack of 50 guys was impossible.  Besides the drills  interpreted resting as merely shuffling to the next activity rather than running.

Rise up, rise up soldier; march on, march on soldier
You must go to join your comrades in arm!

Day 21-May 8, 2013

Since we started this week with nursing memories let us continue since it was about this time that i started the Army Nurse Anesthesia Program.  I had returned from Viet Nam in January 1973.  I was assigned immediately to the Fort Ord Hospital but was then notified that I had been accepted to the anesthesia program that was beginning in May.  I drove from Monterey California to El Paso Texas. I remember entering the Fort from the west gates. I was surprised to see a lot of road and building signs in German.   Fort Bliss was a NATO training site and I had driven through the Luftwaffe gate.
The Anesthesia Program was  a two part program starting with  these 7 months of didactic study.
The first day of class we entered into a low green building and met our director, LTC Ruth Saterfield
with her assistant Major James.  The LTC was tall lady and Major James was short stocky man.
We were assigned desks on which were a stack of text books.  Some of the titles were Adrianis "Text of Anesthesia Physics" Guyton's "Medical Physiology",  Goodman's "Pharmacology",  Wylie & Churchhill-Davidson's "Practice of Clinical Anesthesia",  Smith's "Anesthesia for Infants and Children" and  "Interpretive Blood Gas Analysis" to name a few.
The stack rose 4 feet above the desk and Major James informed us that "by the end of your 7 months WILL have read and you WILL know the content of this stack before I would allow any of you to get near a patient." Perhaps that is why I still recall the titles so vividly.

"ab initio ad finis"

Day 19-20 May 6-7, 2013

Sorry I missed a day. Had all of the intention to blog but my eyes called for a closure.
This is the start of  National Nurses Week.  so some reflections on the start of my career.
I went to the LongIsland University School of Nursing.  I was the only male in the class which in itself was a turn around for me since I went to an all boys high school.  Actually the choice of  a nursing major was to ensure job security.  Since at the time I was married and it provided me access to the Army Student Nurse program which paid for my undergraduate degree in exchange  for a future expenditure of my life.
The principle professor was a lady who came to  NYC by way of her work at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. I do not remember her name but she was a tall graceful black woman who set high demands on her students.  Of course the most interesting part of any nursing education is the clinical rotations.  Ours were at Brooklyn Hospital, Brooklyn State Psychiatric, Bellevue, Bellevue Psychiatric, The New York Department of Health, NY Eye, Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, The Hospital for Special Disease, Kings County Hospital and the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Hospital.
each place has its own memory.
Brooklyn Hospital where I was assigned to teach an Hispanic woman in an open post partum ward who had just delivered her eight child about breast feeding  technique.
Brooklyn State Hospital where i first witnessed Insulin shock, electro shock , water baths for the treatment of psychiatric disease.  this is also where i met  Jack, a cationic who only communicated verbally when Jeopardy was on the  ward TV.  He scored very highly.
Bellevue where I met the son of Dr. Trendelenberg, a famed surgeon whose name is attached to the Trendelenberg position.
Bellevue Psychiatric, aka Bedlam,many  of the criminally insane.  the character Hannibal Lector was a  composite of these patients.
New york Department of Health giving out PCN shots for  various  STDS and asking patients about their sexual contacts to  track the statistics.  This was when STD was a stigma rather then a  honorific
NY Eye, Nose and Throat witnessing many a tonsillectomy.
The hospital for special diseases- where the patients had biblical diseases- leprosy, tuberculosis, polio, plague, dysenteries.
Kings County Hospital had a booming trauma center aptly named the knife and gun club.
Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital where i assisted with a  hemi-corpectomy. The amputation of the lower half of the Body.

Just some memories that remain memorable!

Day18- May 5, 2013

WELL according to the various calendars it is either Cinco de Mayo or National Hoagie Day (or as the sandwich type  is correctly called in Brooklyn and its environs  National Hero Day). which brings to mind my favorite meal time  was our typical Saturday lunch. We would get fresh "cold cuts"(not sandwich meat)  fresh Italian bread and roasted peppers  which my mother would dressed in olive oil and garlic.  My first choice was always, and continues to be  mortadella, provolone and peppers.  If this was not a mortadella week then it would be Genoa salami, provolone cheese and  roasted papers.  To this day those are my "heroes".

Now for Cinco de mayo which will bring up memories of things Mexican. The first mexican meal I  had was in San Antonio texas.  My compatriots in officer basic  took me to a mexican buffet.  Every thing looked the same except for how the tortilla was used. My first foray into Mexico was a long weekend.  We drove to Monterrey Mexico.  We stayed  at a cheap, i mean cheap,  Mexican hotel.  We "partied with some Mexican guests, one of whom turned out to be the bull fighter which we went to see the next day.

A few years later, 1973, I was  stationed  in El Paso, Texas.  At that time it was still safe to cross into Nuovo Laredo.  We did so often while stationed there.  You were able to get some great steaks and plenty of alcohol for little money. at that time the popular mexican drink was not Margueritas but rather Sangria, which we drank by the pitcher.  It was long time till my Mexico .  But that was a more tame and sterile visit to a resort in Cozumel.  One other time was a medical mission trip to provide anesthesia on the prison island of Isola de Tres Marias, 60 miles off the coast of Mazatlan.

Viva la Mexico and pass the peppers please!

Day 17- May 4, 2013

Went to  friends graduation party. Beverly is the mother of three, WWW, EEE, and www  ( remember Paula told me not to publish children's name) wife to John. She has overcome cancer and in her midlife pursued a degree in accounting.  She gave a marvelous toast attributing her success to family and friends who urged her on and supported her in her goal.  I was moved not only by her success but also by her  humility in pointing out all the folks who have influenced her to get to this joyous day.
So today's memory is about one individual who urged me on in the past. Mr. Scala, a 7th grade Social Studies teacher. ( I have mentioned him before).  In the NYC  public school system there was at the time and still are today  specialty schools  To attend one of these schools you had to take a pretty rough  entrance exam.  It was at the impetus of Mr. Scala that I signed up and took that examination. As a result I was accepted into one of the most prestigious public boys high school,  Brooklyn Technical High School.  While that meant that I had to walk 1/2 mile to the bus stop, take the bus to the subway and  take  two subways lines across two boroughs then walk 5 blocks from the subway to the school.  In the end it was worth it all.  I believe I got one of the finest high school education at that time. Now this was not a intimate school. the building itself was ten stories high.  The auditorium was the second largest in the city, topped only by Radio City Music Hall.  Our  graduation class was 1000 in number.  We graduated out of our school auditorium in shifts .  It was a proud day for me  and my family but it would not had come about if  Mr. Scala, a social studies teacher at  JHS 218 had not urged me on.  Thank you Mr. Frank Scala, wherever you may be!


To quote John Dunne  (who Mr. Scala had us read in 7th grade)  "No man is an island entire of itself "

Day 16- May 3, 2013

Today I took a mock Latin Exam for my Canon Law Degree.  I also received notification that I was awarded a small scholarship for my final year from the Canon Law Society of America.  This is actually the first scholarship I have ever received in my entire academic history. This history  brings up memories of my academic past.  This past consists of a B.S. in Chemistry and Nursing from Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus (1971).  A Masters in Anesthesia through the Army Nurse Anesthesia program (1975). A 1979 Master of Science  in Sociology of Human Relations from Pacific Lutheran University.  After a hiatus of 12 years The Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary granted me another Masters in Biblical Theology (1991).  I took another break until recently.  In 2010 St. Mary's University in Wisconsin gave me a Post Graduate Certificate in Canon Law which opened up the door to my most recent goal.  Last year my present study led to a Masters in Law, Religion and Society (2012) from the Katholic Universitat- Leuven. With the intercession of the saints I will hopefully complete my study for the  Iuris Canonici Licentiate.
All of this of course does not count the schooling and training I received on the Army's dime  which I paid back in blood, sweat and tears.
So I can truly say that "I am a Master of all but a jack of no trades"

Day 15 - May 2, 2013

Tonight Paula & I went to a Bourbon and Big Red Wine Dinner.  The friends and family we shared it with made for  great conversation. I was impressed with the bourbon and the wine. This got me to thinking  about the first time I ever  had a fine wine.  In a previous blog I mentioned that my grandfather and the other men on the block (31st Street in Brooklyn between 3r and 4th Ave) engage in an annual wine making.  that wine appeared at every dinner and ever sunday a new gallon was opened.  The wine was rough but just knowing it was home made it significant.
However, the first  fine wine i consumed was paradoxically drunk in the midst of a war.
It  was in Viet Nam, 1971.  We had a relatively difficult week.  We were given a weekend pass to Saigon!  Myself and some comrades were wandering around the Cholon district when we came across a French restaurant( remember Viet Nam was a French colony).  The proprietor brought out a bottle of a 1951 Chateau Rothschild.  The bottle was dusty, the label was  muddled, but the taste was exquisite.

The paradox was that delight was found in the midst of the anguish of war!

Day 14- May 1, 2013

Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the worker! Before I share a memory I thank St. Joseph for his intercession, for today Joshua was hired on a new job.
Now since this is the Catholic Day for the Worker, actually established in contradiction to the the Communist May Day , my memory will be about early work experiences.

One was as a dishwasher at the Queens Terrace.  This was an establishment that provided venues for weddings, bar mitzvahs, engagement showers, confirmations etc. etc.  There were ten rooms each held up to 300 people.  On a fully booked day we served 3.  Washing 3000 fruit cocktail cups, 3000 dinner plates, coffee cups and saucers,  utensils etc, etc makes for a very hard day. In those days we did not have a dishwasher and everything was done by hand.   The day ended  with scrubbing uncountable pans in which they roasted the prime ribs which was the principle menu item.

While I never delivered newspapers I do have an interesting work resume for my youth. I tested water for a city sewage treatment plant over a  high school summer.  I was a courier for a package delivery service in Manhattan during my high school, I was an ambulance attendant for the city EMS while a college student, as well as morgue attendant, and a surgical assistant.

Then I went into the Army and had a 22 year, 10 month, 14 day, 8 hour  career which ended in 1989!

San Giuseppe prega per noi!

Day 13- April 30, 2013

This will be a silly memory! so  wait for it.  today paula and i went for pedicures this afternoon.  we followed that by going to the Mexican restaurant next door to partake of an afternoon marguerite.  The waiter brought us to large drinks which resembled two swimming ponds.  I finished mine and half of Paula which has rendered me a bit inebriated.   This has gotten me to thinking of two great inebriations of my life.
The first started in Viet Nam. Started drinking with a few Australian troops in Pleiku. It was a Friday evening. Saturday morn we were in Sidney.  Some how we got on an austral military transport.  do not remember much of the weekend events but  Monday morning we were back in Pleiku.
The second bout  started at the officers club  at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas.   We had just finished some exams for anesthesia school.  At the club celebrating where there were having a 2 for special on harvey wallbangers (in case you don't recall that is OJ, vodka and Galiano).  I bought ten, which means i consumed 20.  All i recall is  somehow getting to my apartment lying on my bed with one foot on the floor to prevent the room from spinning.

Not proud moments but memories none the less!

In vino verities but in harvey wallbngers there is embarrassment!!

Day 12- April 29, 2013

I rushed home from evening appointments to watch the final episode of an engrossing TV series.
Earliest memory of TV experiences would of course begin with rushing home from schoo in time to watch the Mickey Mouse Club.  Each episode had a "mini series" of which my favorite was "Spin and Marty" . It was about a boys dude ranch, with a girl's dude ranch across the lake.  The starring child actors were Tim Considine and Annette Funicello ( may they rest in peace).  Other early child hood  TV memories were of course Roy Rogers, the Sherri Lewis show, the Lone Ranger, the Merry Mail Man.  The list of course can on and on!  Another memory is that while we were watching the cowboy chases my brother and I would "ride" our "horses" which were the the arms of two big green chairs in what was referred to as the "front room".

Day 11-April 28, 2013

First, to my reader and especially to my niece Gina. In copying and pasting last night's blog I inadvertently missed the last line.  To Gina my apologies,  I have re edited it.  i love you dearly.

Now, today is the 5th Sunday of Easter I was privileged to preach at  the Masses.  It was also the weekend that 151 Children of our parish  received their First Holy Communion.  while my homily at the regular Masses does not directly address First Holy Communion I think it reminds us of a particular  demon we must confront to be worthy to receive Eucharist both for the first time or for the 10,000th time.

so in lieu of a memory i offer my homiletic thoughts:

The past two weeks has really challenged my faith.  In a very real sense the events of Boston have shattered my faith. Not my faith in God but rather my faith in humanity. It seems, to me, that the older the human race gets the farther away it draws itself from being fully human. People are so beset with the past that they possess no hope for the future. Anger from the past finds its way into the present and when it comes to a boil it can take over and  controls our action to such a degree that the future is taken away.  The future is taken away not only from those who have fallen victim to anger but the future is also taken from the ones who were consumed with anger.

So much has been written about the anger of the brothers, so much has been written about the anger of their family. So much has been written about the anguish of the victims. So much anger that it can easily flow into our lives.  I admit that I became angry and that my anger sometimes came out in crude statements articulated to friends and family. That is part of the phenomena of anger; of all the emotions we have anger multiplies itself most easily. Anger duplicates itself the fastest and more importantly anger lingers the longest.  A couple of weeks ago I presented a “teaching” in our Lenten series concerning the seven deadly sins.  My topic was anger. I ask the class to raise their hands if they had anybody in their family who harbored a long standing anger.  Everybody raised their hand. Proving that our problem with anger is not just experienced on the level of the geo political but it is profoundly experience so in our most intimate relationships. Anger is so ubiquitous one can conclude that it we are destined for it therefore, there is nothing we can do about it; In the face of anger we are impotent.

But then we get nudged, nudged by the nothing less than the word of God. The word of god particular expressed in today’s Gospel.

Today’s gospel has Jesus announcing his departure from the lives of the disciples.  In today’s gospel Jesus also announces his singularly new commandment Note the detail with which the Gospel begins “When Judas had left them!”  Judas was an angry man.  The source of his anger was jealousy, pride and greed. Judas .as all angry men let this anger get the best of him. It was from his anger that he betrayed Jesus.  His anger blinded him to the love of Jesus. It is significant though in that before Jesus could offer his new command, the command to love the anger had to depart.  For the reality is that Anger and love cannot coexist. Anger and love cannot abide in the same room; neither can it abide in the same person. When both are available only one will dominate. And which one dominates is a choice we must make.  A choice like all choices that has consequences.

If we choose to be angry we are then choosing not to love.  If we choose not to love then we are separating ourselves from Christ. If we separate ourselves from Christ then we will not be recognized as his disciples. If we are not recognized as his disciple amongst each other than ultimately we won’t be recognized by Christ nor hear  those long for words.  Enter, my good and faithful servant!

So much hinges on that choice that is unfortuantley often given to us..  Will we persevere in the faith of Jesus as Paul and baranabas did or will we let the hardship of hate and anger overpower us thus and limiting or impeding the Kingdom of God.

Will we be among those who recognize that god dwells in each one of us or will we allow our tears and our mourning and our wailing and our pain blind us to that sublime reality?  Will we be the beneficiary of the New Jerusalem or will we be restricted by the rubble of the old.

Yes the choice is always ours. The choice to hate with an unquenchable anger or the choice to love with a fathomless love.  Jesus chose the later with his last words being forgive them for they know not what they do.  It was through this kind of love that Jesus was able to conquer that anger that put him on the cross.  The question is always what choice you will make; I will try loving the rest is up to you!

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est!!