Be all that you can be

No, we're not joining the military here! Today I'm going to wax religious. If that bothers you, stop reading now.

I'm a Catholic. I refer to myself as a delicatessen Catholic. I pick and choose which parts of the faith I believe in. I, for example, think birth control is a fabulous thing. I don't believe that if an infant dies before being baptized, he or she won't go to Heaven. There are a few other things that the Pope and I probably differ on, but I do believe in the crux of the religion. During Mass, we say the Nicene creed. It's what we believe. I believe each and every word of that creed. That makes me Catholic.

I get great solace from attending Mass. Yes, my mind wanders sometimes. I can't help it, it just does. I usually always get something from the sermon though.

I attend Sunday morning Mass with my friend Mary. I told her yesterday that I was going to go to Saturday night Mass this week instead. I went to a different church. That really messes with my mind. All these new people to look at and, well, just new stuff. Oh, there is Mona and Jim from the park. I didn't know they were Catholic! Oh oh oh there are 4 more people from the park. Geez we could carpool here. The cantor sounds kind of like a cat in heat. Ohhhh pretty! There is sun shining through the stained glass window and it lights up the Lord's table perfectly! Sorry, you see how crazy it gets in my mind??? There was a priest, a retired priest, AND a deacon. Wow...the holy trinity! Sounds like the beginning of a joke! Oops, hope I don't go to hell for that one. Anyway, back to the Mass at hand.

I'm not sure where my mind was during the sermon, but it wasn't on the priests words. It was all about the apostle Paul yesterday. Now, if you've ever listened to anything Paul wrote, you might understand my angst. I think he was on crack. Seriously. I really have trouble following any of his readings. So, usually, when I hear that today's gospel is by Paul, I just kind of zone out. I know. Bad Debby. I finally tried to pay attention, and to my chagrin, the priest was uttering the last sentence of his sermon. Oops again. It was a powerful one though I thought. He said he'd heard Mother Theresa speak once and she said....I think I'll go to a new paragraph here so it doesn't get lost.

"Have you done all you can do? Life is short."

My regular priest, Father Michael, brought 2 plants in one Sunday. One quite dead, and one lush and green. He held them both up and asked:

"How do you look in the eyes of God?"

So, am I doing what I need to do? Am I doing ALL I could do? Would God look at me and see a withered plant, or a lovely full green one?

There are things I could work on for sure. I shall start doing that. I live in a park with old people. Lots of them are lonely. I am sure I could ease that burden a bit if I put myself out a little. I could work on my attitude, my thoughts, my words. There are many things I could do to get my plant a bit greener. Make the world a bit better, even if it's just my little corner of the world.

We've got war and strife in the world. We've got money problems and employment problems. We've got aimless killing and anger in our midst. The world is going to hell in a hand basket. If we all just started doing a bit more, being nicer, being less angry, doing what it took, perhaps we could change the world. One dead leaf at a time.

How about you?

Are you doing all you can do? Life is short.