Deacon Kirk

  Way back when I was in high school, we were studying the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns had written a poem about a pretty young lady who was attending church on a Sunday morning. Burns always had a special appreciation for pretty young ladies, and on this Sunday morning his eyes were on her. But so it seems, so were the eyes of everyone else that morning. This young lady was aware that she was attractive, and as she felt the gaze of those around her, she imagined everyone was so captivated by her beauty, they couldn't help but stare at her. She stood up a little straighter, and preened, and tossed her head a little, first in one direction, then in another, filled with pride. However, Burns could see that on this particular morning, all those who were staring at her were not admiring her beauty. This unfortunate young lady, in her pew at worship, wearing her church bonnet, and on this morning a particularly disgusting kind of bug was crawling around on her hat for all to see....

  Human beings are a unique combination of body and soul. We are the only creatures like this in the cosmos, a material body united with a spiritual soul. The Angels are spiritual only, while the animals are body only. Because we humans are made up of body and soul, we use our bodies and our souls when we pray. This is why we have many different postures when we pray. When we come together to worship God, we prayer with our spiritual souls, but we also use our voices, and we use our posture. We stand, we sit, and we kneel. And of course, we use our arms and hands. We dip our fingers in the holy water as we enter the church to make the sign of the cross. I notice that when non-Catholics join us, say for weddings or funerals, they are looking around at us somewhat confused as we automatically stand, or sit, or kneel, with no apparent signal. Our gestures are important, too. When we are praying, we put our hands together in front of us. The priest has even more gestures for pray...

  I got to see the Grand Canyon one time. The Grand Canyon is breath-taking. The Grand Canyon took my breath away, literally. It was only about fifteen years ago when I finally got to see the Grand Canyon, which is mostly because it is close to NOWHERE in this country. To get there you have to spend some time in the car.  You have to make a decision to go there. The National Park’s Village on the south rim is about four and half hours from Las Vegas, or about an hour and a half from Flagstaff, Arizona, which is in the middle of nowhere anyway. And on the trip there, you cannot see the Grand Canyon anywhere as you drive and drive and drive.  All you see as you get closer is a gently downward sloping plain dotted with brush, no canyon. Even in the parking lot, you cannot see it. There is a long hedge on the north side of the parking lot, and as we followed the trail, we passed through the hedge, and there it was: The Grand Canyon. And as I said, as I came through that hed...