What Another Month May Bring

I’m less inclined than I was at the dawn of this blog to share much personal stuff. The most interesting aspects of church ministry involve things that are either privileged and confidential information or just better unshared with the populace at large. For family stuff, you can check my facebook and “friend” me, though I’d rather enjoy real friends in real life. Or at least in a phone conversation now and then.

As of this writing, about half of what is left of Amoris Laetitia is written up and scheduled for getting dropped on you daily at 6am-ish. The other half is neatly set up in posts with drafts of commentary or ready for it. You may have noticed that whole stretches of days go by with nothing besides Amoris. There are no new wedding or funeral readings. And when various bloggers break stories on the roll-back of Liturgiam Authenticam or what some clown did at liturgy, I find myself more and more disinterested in commenting on such. I was testing the waters with a bit of facebook activity at the end of last year, but I find that likewise lacking any energy for me.

The young miss will come of age come to a certain significant age in a few months. In a few weeks, my wife and I will observe a wedding anniversary for the twenty-first time. While I feel fairly fit these days, I recognize that I’m shifting out of middle-age into old. Crises don’t seem to hit me as hard. I also recognize I’m closer to death than to birth, to my funeral than my baptism, and definitely to retirement than my entry into full-time ministry.

At this point, my oldest instrument and I have enjoyed/endured about ninety-percent of our collaborations, judging that I played a lot more when I was young. Along with other matters, these realizations give me a perspective that seem to be moving me away from writing on the internet.

I’ve asked my wife to pray and discern with me some new directions. I think these new directions are not another parish change, but ventures that deal more with my creative and leisure time. Another piece of life’s puzzle, as it were.

More people make a living from playing professional football than from blogging. And since blogging isn’t a passion anymore, I think I can promise you will see less novelty from me when Lent rolls around. Other writers do the daily readings better. Other writers are more connected to what more people want to read. I feel okay with that.

I can share I’m not getting much action in publishing, and I’m okay with keeping at various writing projects as a creative outlet that balances parish ministry. And keeps me happily on the road of discipleship.

I think I’m finally grasping something that has to do with what Saint Ignatius of Loyola means by “indifference.” Not a bad thing at all.