Almost two years ago I was moved to pick up writing my blog again. It had lain dormant for a few months and I had lost my direction and motivation. The very evening I hit publish on my first post in who-knows-how-long, Frank Walker read it and headlined it on Canon212. I was most appreciative and I honestly thought the whole thing was “neat” but wasn’t sure I could sustain writing a daily blog again.
Don’t get me wrong. I love writing. I write every day because it is a happy hobby of mine. But I was not sure that the new direction I had taken my blog in could last for more than a few weeks. Sure, I didn’t have to write every day. But I tend to demand a lot of myself, and I knew that if I didn’t keep myself committed to the goal of writing daily, then I would have no goal at all. Also, my style of writing lends itself to a daily conversation with my readers.
Barely two months after I began, I received an email from one of these readers. I want to state here and now that knowing that people read what I have to write, and even look forward to my posts, is not only gratifying but extraordinarily humbling. This man suggested to me that he had more or less figured out that we were attending the same Trad parish. And he was right. Through our coded messages back and forth we came to conclude that, although we must be going to different masses, we were indeed worshiping at the same place and we agreed to meet up at a parish function.
I am happy to say that this man and I have formed a friendship. We text each other almost every day. We make each other laugh and perhaps most importantly, I would like to believe that we strengthen each other in the daily battle against the evil facing the Church.
This evening I attended a wake for his mother. And now I have the joy of asking all of you who are reading to pray for her soul. Don’t worry about the name. As Supernerd once said, “God knows the forwarding address.”
I suppose what I’m saying is that, if God moved me to write that one post two years ago simply to bring me to this point where I can solicit prayers for the soul of his servant – a woman I never knew in this life – and for the consolation of her son – a man I had not yet met; then, blessed be God! And if this is how He wishes to use me, then God be praised!
What does He have in store for you?
The late Fr. Buckley (may he rest in peace) used to say at the end of all of my confessions, “Ask yourself every day like St. Ignatius: ‘Christ died for me. What have I ever done for Christ?’”
Did you visit the sick? Did you comfort those who mourn? Did you pray for the living and the dead? Did you greet your children with kindness and strive for patience when teaching them the Base Angles theorem? Did you wake up and realize every morning, as I have come to, that “There is a Man on the cross dying for love of me“ and then rush off to the foot of the altar to cast yourself at His feet?
This life as His follower is not easy but neither is it too hard. Simple acts done with love for God are all it takes. Will you also be spat upon and reviled? If you’re doing it right you will.
And if you’re really doing it right, you just never know what He will have in store for you.
St. Paul, pray for us!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 