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Text Box: The elderly lady smiled in my direction through oxygen tubes which lead to a tank carried in the wheel chair so I returned her smile and waived. As they passed by I heard the elderly lady say the words “Priest” and “Blessing”, so I asked the younger woman, “Did she say she would like a blessing?” The younger woman indicated she did not know and the young man turned the wheel chair around so the elderly lady and I could talk. I asked her, “Did you say you would like a blessing?” Shwe answered excitedly with an enormous smile, “Would you? I would really like to receive a blessing from a Priest!” So I blessed her, saying, “May Almightry God bless you and keep you this day and all days throughout your entire life, in the Name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost +.” Her face beamed with total joy and happiness as she said, “I’ve been blessed by a Priest.” The young man and woman who accompanied her were both smiling at her joy and happiness as the three of them continued on what obviously will be one of the last excursions this beautiful elderly lady will will experience in this world. That God chose me to be the one to impart such complete and full happiness to this lady, and by providing that happiness to her also provide a measure of happiness to her younger companions (who appeared to be in their fourties), is an honor and a priviledge for which I thank God with my entire being. That lady’s smile illuminated the “big box” store and remains with me, as sharp an image now as it was several days ago.

Text Box: The joy I saw in that beautiful elderly face must be a mirror of the joy of the soul which has just received the Sacred Eucharist, or Sacramental Absolution. But her joy, her happiness, possessed qualities of something so beautiful I can not begin to describe it. And her younger companions, possibly her children or grandchildren, beamed with happiness at her happiness. God seems to continually grant the opportunity for Priests to experience these fantastic occasions, but a Priest must willingly participate in them and desire to participate in them. If something like this has not happened to you recently, perhaps you should do a few things to assist in their coming into being. You can not seek them. You must be available to receive them when God presents them. I hope and pray I will remember her smile, her joy, her happiness, all the days of my life. + Paul, S.S.B.

Text Box: the Ark of the Cross, and not venture forth until our journey is completed, and we will arrive at our desired destination. But if we enter into a vessel which is not made from the Wood of the Cross, we will enter into a vessel which is not sea worthy. It will sink and take us with it to the depths of hell. One vessel is not as good as another in the journey of life. Many may look like the Vessel of God, but only one of them is the true Vessel of God, the Ship of Life. But it is not sufficient that we endure the waters of temptation by clinging to the Arc of the Cross. There are many monsters in that sea of sin. Monsters who will do their best to tear us from the cross. Most of those monsters look very enticing, they look good. They will tempt us to loosen our gasp of the Cross and to clutch them instead. When Moses first brought God’s people to the promised land, the people were afraid to enter and to do their part of what was necessary to obtain the promised land. So the chosen people of God were cleansed by forty years of wandering in the desert, so that the fearful generation of self interest had died out and the body was replaced with new cells more willing to follow God and to fight for what God had promised; to fight in the manner God instructed and under God’s direction. We too must take the Arc of the Cross, the vessel of our salvation, and not only become one with it so that we can not be torn from it; but also we must grasp that same Cross and with it battle against every person and thing which attempts to keep us from the promised land. By clinging to the Cross, the Cross cleanses us, so that we no longer just cling to the Cross, but actually soak into it just as the blood of Christ soaked into it. Then, when the monster sins seek to swallow us, or to drag us into the sea of sin, their teeth will be broken by the

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