Monday 5:07 AM

 I’m weary this morning.

But it didn’t stop me from doing this.

Sunday 7:00 PM Mass

 My fifth Communion.

Sunday 6:33 AM

 Minus Eight Degrees outside.

Busy Day.  Two Classes. Eight hour fun raising shift. Seven PM Mass.

There are brief moments of beauty and grace to sustain me.

Drive to Brandon

Photos taken by me as my son Tony was driving.

 

Neepawa

 Being further North than Brandon, Neepawa had more snow on the ground.

My name’s in the Staug Bulletin

 

Drive to Neepawa

 My son drove.  

Saturday 5:55 AM

 Beautiful sunrise.

Today: China, Brazil and Neepawa.

Yesterday, meet a PPC member at Sobey’s. He was very articulate. It’s a shame now because politics frustrates me.

Friday 4:55 PM

 Better late than never.

Sobey’s BSM

 Forgot to do a View Photo this morning.

I’m at the Sobey’s in the Brandon Shopper’s Mall doing a fund raising shift.

I also have five online classes to do.

I’m over blessed with work.

All Around the World

 Today, I did online classes with:

• Kashgar, China
• Anhui province, China
• Barcelona
• Madrid
• Milan
• Maple Ridge
• Istanbul
• Santiago
• Fredericton
• Toronto

That’s four continents and six countries.  I’m am  Cosmological  and Universal.  I’m also tired.

I got paid in Yuan, Euro, USD and CAD.

Thursday 9:15 AM: Kind of Cold

 Yesterday, people were wearing shorts or they were in short sleeves.  Any hint of warmth, I told someone yesterday, and they want to take their clothes off. 

Today, they’re wearing toques and gloves.

With Covid over-reaction, floor crossings, pols getting into wars they had promised not to get into, and governments getting awarded with electoral success despite tanking a country, it is hard not to despair.  But the world is always going to be that way.  I’m thankful to not be in a war zone. (Although hearing that 40 or so people get arrested on a typical weekend in Brandon, it may be that the other problems of the world are coming here.)

Thursday 7:30 AM: some snow

 What a difference 12 hours can make!

Wednesday 5:30 PM

      

 Where’s the ladder that had been leaning on the roof?  It was blown to the ground by the wind in the afternoon.

The weather now is wonderful.  After my two classes, I’ll be going for a walk.

But overnight it is forecasted to be nasty with either snow or freezing rain.

Wednesday 9:30 AM Mass

 I had my fourth communion.

Wednesday 7:39 AM

 

Summer today.  High 18 degrees.

Winter tomorrow. Snow is forecast.

RCIA

 I went to my Tuesday RCIA meeting.  The group will soon wind down.  A few more sessions to go.

I took this pic of Staug. It looked lovely set against the background of the evening sky.

Car Wash

 I was in the lineup at Co-op to get the car washed when I got the call to drive to Crocus Plains.  After that gig, I went back to Co-op.

In Brandon, there is the car wash dilemma.  One has a dirty car but one wonders when the right time to clean it is.  If one cleans it now, it will almost certain become dirty in a few days because of the dirty roads.  But the car demands to be cleaned.  And I take solace in the fact that there was a line up at the car wash: many people dealing with the same dilemma.

Crocus Plains High School

 Gig #6.  First time to teach in Canada.

Tuesday of the Second Week after Easter: 7:25 AM

 As I’ve been saying, I don’t know what the days will entail for me.  This morning, I was expecting to do a class with China, but I instead talked to someone in Italy. (Chalk up another country I’ve talked with.)

The state of the World and Canada? Depressing I would say. They both need to be fixed, reformed. The current systems in place are now rotten to the core.

Snow is disappearing

 The remnants are from my snow shoveling.

Monday 6:25 AM

 Nice sunrise.

Not sure what this day will offer me. Everything is tentative because I’m on call.

Safeway: Doing my thang!

 

I’ll be here all afternoon.

Yesterday, I saw a couple rush out with a cart crammed with groceries.  They went through an aisle that had no clerk.  They rushed past me as I tried to give them a pitch. They went to the exit near where I was stationed.

Divine Mercy Sunday 9:00 AM Mass

 I took my third communion.  I saw a few from my RCIA group take communion as well. 

I kept ib mind what Romano Guardini said about trying to have composure in the Mass.  The usual Sunday disturbances seemed less irksome today.

Second Sunday of Easter: 7:10 AM

 

I just talked to a student who lives outside of Madrid.

Divine Mercy Sunday: 5:09 AM

 

There was just an early morning thunder shower.

Me & Richard Pero

 Ray Pero’s brother.

Brandon’s North Hill

 

I am raising funds near here.

Easter Saturday: 6:24 AM

 A lovely morning.  I’m very busy today: two online classes in the morning, an eight-hour fundraising shift, and a short trial class in the evening.

Composure. Romano Guardini talks about having this when going to Mass.  I hope I can possess it when I do today’s tasks.

Day 100

 Day 100 of 2026!  

265 days to go!

Easter Friday: 11:16 AM

 The morning didn’t go as I figured.  I thought I would be going into a classroom, I instead was talking to a woman in Spain. Chalk up another country with which I have talked.  My sixth gig! (Two online platforms, two private online arrangements, a fundraising gig and the BSD).

Easter Friday: 6:40 AM

 I’m not sure what the day will entail for me.  I’m on call waiting to get a phone call.  I do have a couple of online classes though.

Also, how about that sunrise?

Thursday 12:25 PM: NGD

 

 From NGD:

• Los hombres se reparten entre los que se complican la vida para ganarse el alma y los que se gastan el alma para facilitarse la vida.
• Men can be divided into those who make their life complicated to gain their soul and those who waste their soul to make their life easier.

It would be far easier to not be Catholic, but it is something for which I insist, damn the Earthly consequences.

Thursday in Easter Week: 6:14 AM

 

Not having a fixed daily schedule can be wearying.  There are times when 5:00 AM is just too early to be getting up.

Today classes with Xinjiang, Istanbul, Fredericton, Torsby and Maple Rudge.  

Anywho, about the dawn in the above picture?  Isn’t it something?

Wednesday 2:05 PM: Snow

 Can you see the fluffy flakes of snow?

It had seemed that Brandon had gotten off the hook because only a little snow, not enough to bother shoveling, had fallen; and a lot had been predicted.  But now it seems it is going to snow heavily after all.

Friday, I’ll be on call for the BSD.

Wednesday in Easter Week: Second Communion

 After dropping off Tony, I went to Staug.

Then, I went to the BSD to sign a letter.

Life is good in some ways…

Easter Tuesday: 10:05 AM

 NGD says:

—La vida es un combate cotidiano contra la estupidez

—Life is a daily struggle against one’s own stupidity.

I came upon that aphorism as I was looking for this one:

• No hay victoria espiritual que no sea necesario ganar cada día nuevamente.
• There is no spiritual victory which need not be won anew each day.

Wonderful as that Easter Vigil was, I have to keep these things in mind.

Besides, there is supposed to be another big snow coming.

A Gift

 This cross was a confirmation gift from the Catholic Women’s League.

I got Father Oliver to bless this cross, after my Tuesday RCIA meeting, in what was quite an elaborate ritual.  I then proceeded to have the cross fall off the chain on Wednesday morning.  It took me a long time to find it.  To prevent the cross from falling off again, I have it attached to a key ring.  This setup will do for now.  Perhaps, I should get a better chain for it.

Easter Monday: 5:16 PM

 Snow is disappearing. A lot of the ground is clear of it, but there are piles that still mar the landscape.

I don’t know if I will be making quote videos again.  It is nice to not be making them.

That Easter Vigil is the highlight of my return to Canada.  It was the culmination of many, many years of reading and prayer.  It is the one thing that I can realistically say went well as expected in my return.  Staring at the candles during the Vigil, there was a feeling, while focusing on its flame, that I had a glimpse of paradise. Hokey, as the previous sentence seems on rereading, I mean it.  That moment would better described with poetry…

Easter Monday: 7:05 AM

 Now what?  Saturday was such a high that it I am finding it hard to get back to business.  That is, working and dealing with my commitments.  And I got to be more charitable and giving; less about me.

Easter Sunday: 2:49 PM

 

A dull afternoon.  My son Tony wanted to get out so we walked to the Mall where he was so appalled by the prices that he didn’t want to look at anything.

After yesterday’s intense Vigil, I walked about feeling almost hung over.  

So many great moments from the Vigil that I will spend a few entries recounting them.

As I was saying, the lights were turned off in the Church at the start of the Vigil.  Everyone attending was given a candle.  From a fire set outside the church by the Priest, a candle was lit from which all the other candles were then in turn lit, producing a magnificent effect.

My taking of Communion was the culmination of a long spiritual journey.  

Writers helpful in my journey: CS Lewis, Chesterton, Simone Weil, Josef Pieper, David Warren, Evelyn Waugh, Belloc, Chateaubriand, Sea Blogger, Pope Benedict,

https://www.youtube.com/live/mRsRT1KURbY?si=YfhGo_zElpf-hzrC