on the road again

I’m going to be honest: I had only run once since the half-marathon.  I can feel it in my legs…and moreso, I can feel it in my waist-line.  I can give you a thousand excuses why I hadn’t made an effort to get out before the sun, but this week I couldn’t take it anymore.  It has only been a few miles at a time…but it is something.  And its good.

On this sleepy Saturday morning I was just finishing up my run (admittedly, I was tired) and was distracted by the sound of light-hearted guitar cords from across the street.  The business with the red awnings always had music, even at that hour.  I was stopped short as the bass began.  I recognized the song–U2.  “Where The Streets Have No Name.”

Yeah.  Please add this moment to the movie you make of my life.

I want to run – I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside
I want to reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

How perfect.  How sacramental.  How very TOB.

Light up, Light up, As if you had the Choice

Whether or not the Council becomes a positive force in the history of the Church depends only indirectly on texts and organization; the crucial question is whether there are individuals- saints- who, by their personal willingness, which cannot be forced, are ready to effect something new and living.  The ultimate decision about the historical significance of Vatican Council II depends whether or not there are individuals prepared to experience in themselves the drama of the separation of the wheat from the cockle and thus to give to the whole the singleness of meaning that it cannot gain from words alone.

p. 377
Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

stolen quotes

My grandpa owns a tavern.  Did I ever tell you that?  In a few weeks it is closing and is probably going to end up being something really depressing…like a Baby Gap.  Or perhaps someone will think it is a tribute to this town–the way keeps changing.

I used to go there when I was little and sneak behind the counter and grandpa would lift me up, my eyes peering into the candy drawer, and I would pick a Clark Bar every time.  Last weekend I went to that bar and had my first ever drink within its walls.  It is also my last ever.  And despite all the familiar faces and smiles I was overcome by sadness.

I don’t think about John everyday.  But I think about him often.  My Uncle John passed away unexpectedly a number of years ago, but despite his death he was there.  Despite our aching hearts he was there as if he’d never left his place behind that counter.

“You never get over it.
You just get used to the idea.”

Relationships don’t work they way they do on television and in the movies. Will they? Won’t they? And then they finally do, and they’re happy forever. Gimme a break. Nine out of ten of them end because they weren’t right for each other to begin with, and half of the ones who get married get divorced anyway, and I’m telling you right now, through all this stuff I have not become a cynic. I haven’t. Yes, I do happen to believe that love is mainly about pushing chocolate covered candies and, y’know, in some cultures, a chicken. You can call me a sucker, I don’t care, because I do believe in it. Bottom line: it’s couples who are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else, but the big difference is they don’t let it take them down. One of those two people will stand up and fight for that relationship every time. If it’s right, and they’re real lucky, one of them will say something.

Dr. Cox, Scrubs, Season 1

“She once told Ives, while they walked along the boardwalk of Coney Island, that, in her opinion the troubles in life were started by people who never looked into their own souls.  He walked along holding her hand and nodding.  He was astounded, a woman nearly as introspective as himself, who loved him.”

Mr. Ives’ Christmas, Oscar Hijuelos

“In a man, the mystery [of God] is revealed in chivalry to women, not because he believes that woman is physically weaker, but because of the awe he feels in the presence of mystery.”

Three to Get Married, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen