Chatting about the Treatise :Love Believes all things

Ruth (Guest): Of course, but I think I am just since I am home again able to really get in touch with the feelings and memories. And now I am the only surviving family member of this generation and the one before me. My brother Peter was only 64 when he passed away unexpectedly from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. We were actually on the phone with one another when it burst.

Ruth (Guest): I don’t think it means that we are gullible. I think it means that we believe revealed truth and possibly because of this, if called to do so, will undertake even tasks that seem impossible.

Ruth (Guest): Thank You, Jennifer.

Ruth (Guest): Of course, trusting that God’s power will make up for our own weaknesses.

Ruth (Guest): I don’t know if you know, I lost my car keys and my wallet just before my brother passed away, train schedules were impossible, so I wound up having to drive a 20 year old rusting out pickup truck some 600 miles AFTER unloading (at the transfer station –– no trash service here) the load of trash I had already on it covered with a tarp.

Ruth (Guest): God was merciful. The truck, used to only short runs with heavy loads, ran like a happy puppy just freed from confinement –– it even wagged its tail a little, but I got that problem under control by moving around 6 heavy cement blocks I’d put on it for traction in the winter.

Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, were it not for the “unseen help” I would have been dead long ago.

Ruth (Guest): I try, and do what is necessary. I think my brother was like that in many ways –– but he did not acknowledge God’s help. I learned, however, that he received the Sacraments just before he died and that is a consolation to me. Born to eternal life!

Ruth (Guest): I do not FEEL that my faith is strong; virtually NO NATURAL Faith. Maybe I am a little like Peter: To whom else shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

Ruth (Guest): I think my paternal grandmother had that kind of Faith. She –– and the maternal grandmother, too –– had only two years of schooling. Apparently there were times when the family had to deal with near starvation. I’ve seen pictures of my Dad looking like the kids in Biafra with sunken cheeks, skinny arms and a swollen belly. But she carried on, and even made her pastor jealous, saying, “Some day I will get to a sick parishioner before you do!“

Ruth (Guest): You could not admire anything in her house without her giving it to you, so I learned NOT to express admiration.

Ruth (Guest): Yes, she was always there helping neighbors. And it was neighbors who help feed the family when there was nothing to eat. I have, only in recent years, seen letters expressing some of this.

Ruth (Guest): Cautious is a good word for it. But that is a lot like suspecting something untoward. One priest told me “It is fine to suspect (in that case, illegal drug dealing by a well-positioned person) but NOT to speak about.

Ruth (Guest): However, there are situations in which we MUST not only “suspect” but also speak about even a low level of suspicion –– not gossip, but speak to the right person who can DO something to protect the innocent, e.g. when we suspect child abuse.

Ruth (Guest): Good work Jennifer. Thank you for joining us.

Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, you made a couple of good points there.

Ruth (Guest): Examining our own motivation and carefully considering WHO to speak to.

Ruth (Guest): Thank you, Sister. Good that you are able to go on retreat. There must be a lot of stress at this time –– just about two months before Decision Day for the monastery. You and the sisters are in my prayers, too.

Ruth (Guest): Carol Ann, it slows me down, too, sometimes far, far too much –– choosing to think the best of another who has an evil intent . . .

Ruth (Guest): How precious, Brian. Good that she is with a mission group. That’ll probably give Maria a LOT to process during and after the trip.

Ruth (Guest): My prayers go with her.

Ruth (Guest): Yes, Carol Ann, sometime we may have to talk about that.

Ruth (Guest): Good night, have a blessed week, all of you.

Ruth (Guest): Sorry, Carol Ann, I AM way behind on e-mail. I did not have a working computer for some weeks.