Questioning Our Fears

On Sunday this week we celebrated the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus, when the Wise Men came looking for Him and visited Him as a newborn baby.  That day in the Gospel reading we heard that 

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, 
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?  
We saw his star at its rising 
and have come to do Him homage."  
When King Herod heard this, 
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.  
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  
They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet: 
'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"  
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance.  
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
"Go and search diligently for the child.  
When you have found Him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do Him homage."  
After their audience with the king they set out.  
And behold, 
the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.  
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house 
they saw the child with Mary His mother.  
They prostrated themselves and did Him homage.  
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.*  

When King Herod heard that Jesus, thought to be the King of the Jews, had been born, Herod was very troubled.  Herod was king, yet he heard of a king being born.  

Herod wanted to find out where the Messiah was to be born.  Keep in mind that the prevailing conception of the Messiah back then was in stark contrast to how today we view Jesus, as Messiah, as saving us through His dying for us and His rising from the grave, triumphing over death for us.  However, back then, the Messiah was expected to be a nationalistic and bellicose ruler who would liberate Israel from its enemies.**  

In this context, Herod wanted to know where the Messiah was going to be born because Herod viewed the Messiah as a threat to Herod holding onto power.  Thus Herod asked where the Messiah was to be born.  Who did Herod ask?  He asked the chief priests and the scribes.  He asked the people who were most knowledgeable about the sacred Scriptures.  He asked the people who were most likely to know where the Messiah would be born.  

Herod was king of Judea, Idumaea and Samaria.  Jesus born in Bethlehem, which was in Judea, where Herod governed as king.  
From Herod's point of view, the Messiah had just been born where Herod was governing.  Herod thought that the new king was going to become king right where Herod was king.  

Herod saw Jesus as a threat to Herod's power.  Herod thought that Jesus would grow up and rule as king right after Herod.  However, as Jesus told Pontius Pilate just before Jesus was sentenced to die on the cross, Jesus' Kingdom is not of this earth.***  Rather, Jesus' Kingdom is in Heaven.  

Herod feared Jesus since he was convinced that Jesus would take over Herod's kingship.  However, Herod actually had no reason to fear that Jesus would usurp Herod's kingship.  
Yet a little later in his life, Herod had much reason to fear Jesus for a different reason.  When Herod realized that the magi decided not to return to him and inform him where the Messiah had been born, Herod was furious.  Then Herod had slaughtered all the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside who were two years old and younger.****  Having ordered such widespread murder of innocent children, then Herod had much reason to fear Jesus, who will judge all people at the Final Judgment after we die.  

Yet when Jesus was born, Herod incorrectly judged Jesus to be a threat to Herod's ruling power.  Herod was mistaken in his assessment of the situation.  Herod feared when he should not have feared.  

Who does each of us fear?  Who do we see as a threat?  Are those people we see as dangerous actually not cause for concern?  

Often we see the stranger as a threat because the stranger is someone we do not know.  As humans we fear who and what we do not know.  

Yet might the stranger actually be someone who has been helping us?  I think of poor people who have come here, often illegally, from Mexico and nearby countries.  Impoverished migrant farmworkers come to the United States from Mexico and Central American countries to work in fields in the United States.  They pick and pack vegetables and fruits, valuable and indispensable work, which is also exhausting and demanding labor, yet for low wages.  Then those of us living here in the United States go to grocery stores and supermarkets and buy fruits and vegetables which have been picked and packed by these very immigrants.  If we propose building a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico, do we think in the same instant of the immigrants who cross that border and of how they do the painstaking work to harvest the fruits and vegetables we eat?  

Jesus instructed us to welcome the stranger.*****  He added that insofar as we welcome those who are the least among us, we are then welcoming Him.******  

Who do we fear?  Who do we welcome?  We will have to explain to Jesus why we did not welcome who we feared.  Let us not fear Jesus; let us welcome Him wherever we meet Him, however He seeks to help us; let us welcome Him into our hearts.  

* Matthew 2:1-12 
** Jerusalem Bible, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. (New York, 1990), p. 1661, 1663, note "m" to Mark 1:34
*** John 18:36 
**** Matthew 2:16 
***** Matthew 25:35 
****** Matthew 25:40 

Keep On Guessing

Here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, often we extend hospitality to families.  Currently a family which includes a couple of young girls is staying here.  This weekend, when it has been so rainy here in the Bay Area, at one point the mom was reading to her girls in the living room.  

She read out of the book, "Who was the first President of the United States?"  

One of the girls replied, "George Wilson!"  

The mom replied, "No!  That's not his name!" 

The girl contended, "I can't say his name!"  

From the kitchen, I called, "When you want to clean your clothes, you put them into what?"  

The girl responded, "The washing machine."  

I continued, "OK.  Now take off that second word."

She asked, "Machine?"  

I explained, "Right, since that's not part of his name.  You've just got 'Washing.'  Now, for the second part of his name, when you've got 2,000 pounds, what do you call it?"  

The mom added the clue, "It's three letters long."  

The girl exclaimed, "Fat!"  

Keeping Valuable Knowledge

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In the Gospel reading today we hear that, after angels announced to shepherds tending their flocks in the fields that Our Savior Jesus had been born, 

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem 
and found Mary and Joseph, 
and the infant lying in the manger.  
When they saw this, 
they made known the message 
that had been told them about this child.  
All who heard it were amazed 
by what had been told them by the shepherds.  
And Mary kept all these things, 
reflecting on them in her heart.  
Then the shepherds returned, 
glorifying and praising God 
for all they had heard and seen, 
just as it had been told to them.  

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, 
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.*

Upon reading this Gospel passage this morning, I pondered the approach that Mary took in her life.  In this part of the Gospel we are told that Mary kept all these things in her heart.  She kept them.  She did not discard them.  What things did she keep?  What things did she not throw away?  Among other things, she kept and cherished the knowledge she had of how God had abundantly blessed her and her husband Joseph.  

When we keep awareness of God's blessings, we keep valuable jewels of wisdom which, properly used, lighten the burdens we carry.  In contrast, so often we hang onto physical property which often weighs us down.  Years after I acquired certain items of property, I realized I had only those articles of property once, or that I had never used those possessions at all.  In retrospect I saw that I could have gotten rid of such things long before I did.  

So often too we discard valuable insights which are given to us as gifts.  We fail to recognize the true, abiding, lasting treasure contained in such pearls of wisdom.  There have been times I have learned invaluable lessons, only to forget what I had learned.  

We are called to continual discernment.  We are called constantly to discern what we should keep and what we should discard.  We should ask ourselves what we value and what we find of little or no enduring worth.  We are called then to keep accordingly and likewise to discard.  

God will sift us too, separating all of us from each other like wheat from chaff,** like fruitful, nourishing harvest from nutritionless, worthless waste material.  We too should sift and sort in our own lives right now, discerning what to keep and what to discard, according to what will and what will not help us to love God and our neighbor.  

As we discern, and consequently retain what benefits us and others, as well as reject what harms us and others, we will find that we have what we need and what others need.  We will find what we need right in front of us.  We will be nourished and in turn we will be equipped to nurture others.  

I am led to share some circumstances from my day today which seem to illustrate this truth.  In a blog post a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was about to go on vacation.  A few days ago I returned from visiting my parents and my sister back east.  I very much enjoyed visiting them.  I've also enjoyed being back here in Redwood City, returning to the ministry here that I find fulfilling.  I've enjoyed reconnecting with people here who I've missed.  

Due to certain responsibilities here at the Catholic Worker House, I have to be here at the house most of today.  Thus I've found myself wanting to spend time with people here in the larger community of Redwood City, but constrained from doing so due to duties here at the house.  I'd been looking forward to seeing many of these warm, welcoming people in the wider community who I've come to know while living here.  

So I felt as if God was answering my prayer this morning when the doorbell rang.  Upon opening the door, I received a robust, energetic and warm greeting from someone I'll again call "Ben," a homeless man who periodically stops by here at the Catholic Worker House.  

He shared with me how one day, upon returning to where his tent and the rest of his property had been, everything which had been there was gone.  Yet he also related to me how he recently had his bicycle fixed, but didn't have to pay anything for the repairs, due to the generosity of the repair person.  Later I considered how, in the midst of his disappointment over having lost almost all of his possessions, he kept in his heart how he had been treated to free repairs on his bicycle.  In keeping the memory of this magnanimity in his heart, he cultivated seeds of gratitude in himself.  Remaining grateful, he made a conscious choice how he would respond to his apparently unfortunate circumstances.  Through his choice, God strengthened him.  

As Ben was about to bicycle away, I thanked him.  Missing him and others I've gotten to know here in the wider community of Redwood City, I was pleased he had stopped by the house here.  He had made me feel better in the midst of my longing to see him and other people who I've come to cherish here.  Despite his recent apparent misfortune, he was ministering to me.  In the midst of his pain, he was the one showing love and comfort: he was implicitly consoling me through his very presence.  I had called out to Jesus to comfort me, to come to me, to minister to me.  In response, Jesus, who is in those who are least among us,*** came to my door in the homeless man who rang my doorbell.  

Just as Jesus came to me, Jesus comes to Ben, and to each and every one of us.  Soon before Ben bicycled away, I reminded him that Jesus always welcomes us to Him.  I added that Jesus is always with us.****  

God calls us to keep and cherish in our hearts the knowledge that He is always with us.  When we hold onto this precious knowledge, we can recognize Him when He comes to us.  When we remember this vital truth, we are set to open our hearts to Jesus.  As Saint Paul puts it, then no longer are we living; then Jesus is living in us.*****  Then we humbly submit to the will of God; then we obediently allow Jesus to love our neighbor through us.  Then the Kingdom of Heaven is right here, right now, in this very moment.  Amen.  

* Luke 2:16-21 
** Matthew 3:12 
*** Matthew 25:40 
**** Matthew 28:20 
***** Galatians 2:20 

A Sweet Exclamation

At many Catholic Worker Houses, the workers extend hospitality to guests.  Here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, guests stay with us long-term until they have saved enough funds to be able to move out into their own homes.  

Recently one of our current guests was fixing some coffee for herself in the kitchen here in the house.  She dropped the large jar of sugar, which fell onto the floor and cracked.  

Rather than swear, she exclaimed, "Sugar!"  

I said, "Exactly."  

Changing Our Minds

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus talks to us about how God values when we actually do what God calls us to do, rather than simply saying that we will do what He asks us to do.  Jesus also points out that there are those among us who we may despise, but who might be getting into Heaven before us if they do God's will while we fail to do so.  

In today's Gospel, we hear that 

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“What is your opinion? 
A man had two sons. 
He came to the first and said,
‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ 
The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’
but afterwards he changed his mind and went. 
The man came to the other son and gave the same order. 
He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. 
Which of the two did his father’s will?” 
They answered, “The first.” 
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the Kingdom of God before you. 
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did. 
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him.”*    

Here through a parable, Jesus illustrates that what one says, about what one will do or not do, matters less than what one ultimately does.  The first son says he will not go work in the vineyard as the father requests, but later he goes and works there.  He is seen as doing his father's will, despite his initial refusal.  

At first we might speak rebellious words to God; we might say that we are not going to cooperate with Him.  We might say that we are going to do things our own way rather than trust in God.  However, despite initially rejecting God's will, later we can choose to trust in God, obey His commandments, and do His will.  We can decide to love our neighbor by opting to perform loving acts of compassion everyday for those around us.  

In the parable, the second son says he will go work in the vineyard as his father directs him to do, but then does not go work there.  Not going to work, he is seen as not doing his father's will; in merely offering his words of acquiescence, he does not fulfill his duty to his father.  

When we talk about loving our neighbor, but then do nothing to love our neighbor, we do not do God's will.  It is not the shape of the words we speak, but the state of our hearts which define our relationship with God and with our neighbor.  When we truly love, this living love is seen more tellingly in our acts than in our words.  People can tell who true Christians are by witnessing ardent acts of love.  

After the parable, Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before they are.  He was telling those responsible for the moral leadership of the people that those who were much maligned in society were entering God's Kingdom before them.  One is not guaranteed safe passage from one's title or position in life.   Those who are marginalized, seemingly rejected and scorned, may be ahead of us.  Given that they may be further along than us, one could do well to have the humility to realize that one has something to learn from them.  

Who are those who are stigmatized, who are on the fringes, who are the dispossessed today who we push away, yet who might have something to teach us?  Who do we ignore who might be sent into our lives to help us, even though we think they need our help?  

I am reminded of a particular homeless woman who here I'll call "Catherine."  She is a very social, warm, caring, attentive, giving person.  When someone is in trouble, she jumps forward to help that person in need.  

Recently I heard a couple of people talking about Catherine.  The first person shared that Catherine had informed him of something, and the second person said, "She's a meth addict."  The second person said that Catherine is addicted to methamphetamines, insinuating that one could not believe what she said or rely on her.  Yet her friends rely on her to help them to replace their basic property after it has been lost or stolen.  Catherine leaps forward as a Good Samaritan to assist those who have been beaten and left by the side of the road to die.**  She actually acts to help.  One cannot dismiss her as a lost cause simply because she might be a drug addict.  

I am also recalling how someone I know had been reaching out to Catherine over a period of weeks.  This helper had been repeatedly going to Catherine and assisting her in little ways.  Catherine explained to him that he was doing well by consistently trying to help.  She went on to emphasize that someone in need is encouraged by a person who consistently shows up to help.  Catherine, supposedly a drug addict, was counseling, advising and encouraging this person who kept showing up to try to help her.  This apparent drug addict was giving valuable feedback and direction.  Catherine, living on the fringes of society, despised and scorned, was giving thanks, was encouraging her neighbor, and was showing love to the person standing in front of her.  

Drug addicts and homeless people are capable of love.  They might love their neighbor better than others.  We might be able to learn from them.  If we dismiss people, we can't learn from them.  Yet if we welcome someone, if we welcome the stranger in front of us, we are showing that we are willing to listen to that person.  

We show our willingness more through our actions than simply through our words.  It's not what we say, but what we do, that most matters.  Yet it's not just what we do, but with how much love we do it, that matters even more.  Saint Teresa of Calcutta advises us, "In this life we cannot do great things.  We can only do small things with great love."  Saint John of the Cross sagely counsels us, "In the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love."  At the end of our lives, we will be judged on how much, and how fervently, we have loved God and our neighbor.  

To know how to love, I look to Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God.  In our everyday lives, we meet Jesus in our neighbor.  Jesus is present in those who are impoverished; He is in the least among us.***  We have much to learn from our neighbor, especially those who are poor.  When we make their struggles our own, we come to have compassion.  Becoming compassionate, we show the love we would like to receive if we were in their place.  Then with such understanding, we can come to love our neighbor as ourselves.****  Then we can realize that we and our neighbor and God are much closer than we had previously thought, a loving embrace patiently waiting to be accepted.  

* Matthew 21:28-32 
** Luke 10:29-37 
*** Matthew 25:40 
**** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14  

Already Missing Them

Soon I'll be going on vacation.  Today when I was crossing paths with some of the homeless folks I know, I was letting them know that I'll be gone for a couple of weeks.  One of them, who I'll call "Roslyn" here, replied that she and others will be looking forward to seeing me again when I get back from vacation.  I responded that I'll be looking forward to seeing them again too.  
After I had walked away, I realized that I was already missing them.  And then I considered that given that I feel this way, perhaps it's a good indication that bonds of love and community have already formed with these tender people I already miss.  

Giving Our Consent

Last Thursday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, commemorating how Mary was conceived without sin.  In our celebration of this Solemnity, we see how God invites us to greatness by asking us to simply give our assent to His plan. 

The Gospel reading on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception was from Luke 1:26-38.  There we hear that 

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”  

But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”  

And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.  And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”  

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  Then the angel departed from her.*    

Saint Augustine of Hippo has explained how Our Blessed Mother Mary is blessed moreso for her obedience to God than for her having borne Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  He cited the Gospel verses in which Jesus stretched out His hands over His disciples and remarked that "Here are My mother and My brothers: for whoever who does the will of My Heavenly Father is My brother and sister and mother."**  The saint explained that Mother Mary did the will of God the Father.  She gave her consent to God's plan for her to give birth to God's Son, Jesus.  The saint went on to explain that insofar as Mother Mary did God's will, and thus followed Jesus' teaching, she is more blessed in her being a disciple of Jesus than in having birthed Jesus.  

Saint Augustine invited us to examine further the Scriptures with him to see how this is true.  He referred to the instance in which a woman in a crowd called out to Jesus, "Blessed is the womb that carried You and the breasts at which You nursed."  

Jesus replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it."***  

Saint Augustine explained that Jesus responded as He did because He wanted people to look beyond the physical.  Jesus deeply desires, much more than our physical needs to be satisfied, for our souls to thrive through our embracing the will of God.  

The saint explained that Mother Mary heard the Word of God and kept it, and thus she was blessed.  The saint made clear that she kept God's Truth in her mind, which was nobler than carrying His Son's body in her womb.  

When God presented His plan to Mother Mary, she had the humility to describe herself as the handmaid of the Lord God.  She saw herself as a servant of the Lord God who would willingly submit to God's will.  She stood ready to do the will of God.  She replied to the angel, "May it be done to me as you have said."  She was waiting to do the will of God; when she was presented with the will of God, she was prepared to reply, "Yes."  
Clearly Our Blessed Mother Mary provides an example for us to emulate.  In pondering how Mary accepted Jesus into her life, we are led to consider how we respond to Jesus.  How are we preparing ourselves for the arrival of Jesus this Advent, and throughout the year, when we encounter Jesus everyday in our neighbor?  

Through prayer and fasting, we deny ourselves.  In denying ourselves, by letting go of our preconceptions and judgemental ideas and biases, we can empty ourselves so God can fill us with what He wants so dearly to give to us.  By letting go of what poisons us, what stifles us, what holds us back, we make room for what God desires to give us to nourish us, to help us grow, to draw us forward on our way back to Him.  

Once we have made room in our hearts, we can let in others.  By serving our neighbor, especially the person we see who is disempowered and marginalized, we can come to understand the struggles of those who endure much more challenging circumstances than we face.  Thus we can feel more compassion toward our neighbor, and, in turn, feel and express and show more love.  

As we love more deeply and more unconditionally, we grow closer to God as God continues to sanctify us.  Opening our hearts to God, we welcome God as He seeks to present to us what He has in store for us.  God has so many wonderful things in store for us, which we can enjoy if we only trust Him.  God is so much more powerful, and so much wiser, than we are.  If we trust God, He will draw us into becoming far more than we could ever be without assenting to His plan.  To experience great wonder, God calls us to reply "Yes."

* Luke 1:26-38 
** Matthew 12:49-50 
*** Luke 11:27-28 

Likes To Give

Here at the Catholic Worker House, this time of year, from the couple of weeks before Thanksgiving until a few days into the new year, is busier than usual.  A lot of different folks keep showing up with many different items they donate to us.  

This morning my mentor Larry here at the house asked me about some canned goods and boxes of food which had arrived here yesterday.  We discussed what we would do with the food.  

The box had no top and was wrapped with wrapping paper.  So viewed from a low height, it looked like a Christmas present.  One of the two young boys who lives here at the house, who's five years old, walked up to me as I was looking at the items in the box.  

He asked me, "Is this a present from Santa?"  

"No," I replied.  

"Then who is it from?"  

I explained, "It's from a very nice person who likes to give things to other people."  

Praying Waters Souls

During Mass today, I noted synergy between my early morning reading and the sermon.  This morning, before I went to Mass, I was reading some spiritual maxims written by Saint John of the Cross, the Carmelite friar and mystic who lived in Spain in the sixteenth century.  Among other axioms written by him, this morning I read how he wrote that "By prayer aridity is expelled, devotion increased, and the interior practice of virtue is established in the soul."  

Then, on this first Sunday of Advent, I attended Mass at 7:30 a.m. here in Redwood City.  During the sermon, the priest analogized us to cornstalks.  He also likened how much we pray, and with how much devotion, and under what circumstances, as being analogous to the extent to which a cornstalk is rooted in the ground.  

In the midst of arid, dry weather, the roots of a cornstalk grow deeper into the ground as they search for water.  So too when we experience spiritual aridity, that is, dryness in prayer, God is calling us to persist in our faith and in our prayer and to deepen our relationship with Him.  As Saint John of the Cross tells us, we expel aridity by praying.  By continuing to pray in the midst of spiritual dryness, we show God that we love Him.  God wants us to seek Him humbly in earnest.    

Roots stabilize the cornstalk.  With deep and extensive roots, a cornstalk can withstand strong winds.  So too when we weather severe storms in life, if we have a deep, devoted, fervent prayer life, through the grace of God, we will resist any and all challenges which we encounter.  

The priest added that the liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent are characterized by more intense fasting and prayer than usual.   He offered encouragement to more deeply enter into prayer in this Advent season.  

During Advent, as we meditate upon the birth of Jesus which we will soon celebrate, we are invited to live more ascetically over these next few weeks.  At times we experience periods of spiritual aridity which we do not consciously choose, and are called upon then to pray more intensely.  Yet at certain times in the liturgical calendar, we are also called to make more intense sacrifices of prayer and fasting, such as during Advent and Lent.  Thus in this current Advent season, we are invited to plumb the depths of own our souls more deeply in prayer.  In doing so in still, silent solitude, we seek a conscious communion with Jesus which can strengthen us against whatever storms may confront us in our lives.  

Keep Them Out

Here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House we've got a fabulous friend who shows up here and helps us out.  Here I'll call him "Mack."  Sometimes we call Mack and he gladly comes over and carts away donated items which no one wants.  

Recently I was on the sidewalk in front of the house when Mack was gathering things to haul away.  Completely unrelated to what we had just been discussing, Mack suddenly told me that he has multiple mental health diagnoses.  As he's sharing this personal information with me out in public, he's talking quickly, in an animated fashion.  He's a bundle of energy, yet he channels that seemingly inexhaustible and constant and vigorous flow of energy into jumping forward and assisting others however he can.  I so enjoy being in his presence; I feel like infrequently do I cross paths with such a giving person who always seems to be ready to help out and serve whenever he's asked.  

After Mack had finished loading the unwanted items into the back of his pickup truck, as he's driving down the street, he stops.  He leans out the window.  He calls out to me across the street, "I keep hearing voices.  I don't want to be hearing these voices.  People say to me, 'Why don't you try ear plugs?'  I tell them, 'No!  That'll keep the voices in my head!  I don't want to keep the voices inside my head!'"