Our reflection for the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) is from Living Faith: Daily Catholic Devotions, written by Elizabeth Duffy.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” — John 20:21-22
The disciples were hiding in a locked room when Jesus approached them, bearing the wounds of His crucifixion and offering His greeting of peace. He then sent them to be forces of reconciliation in the world. He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, so whose sins they forgive are forgiven.
What does it mean to me, as a disciple of Jesus, that He would come to me in the midst of my anxiety and fear, breathing peace? He says to go out from the locked room — wherever I hide from problems and discord — and make peace.
Peacemaking is a dance of relationship. It is conversation leading toward understanding. It is both an offering and a receiving of Jesus’ peace. Not everyone wants to be moved in this way. Sometimes I become impatient with it too.
Peacemaking is a dance of relationship. It is conversation leading toward understanding. It is both an offering and a receiving of Jesus’ peace. Not everyone wants to be moved in this way. Sometimes I become impatient with it too.Jesus, breathe with me in this movement of reconciliation.
Duffy is a regular contributor to Living Faith and to Image Journal’s Good Letters Blog. Her essays have been published by Our Sunday Visitor, On Faith (at Faithstreet.com/onfaith) The Catholic Educator, Image Journal, Mind and Spirit, and Aleteia. She has written a column and blog for Patheos.com and her personal blog is bettyduffy.blogspot.com/. Living Faith provides brief daily Catholic devotions based on one of the Mass readings of the day.
THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost. – Proverb
Our world continues to ne battered and torn with the coronavirus pandemic. But we know through the Empty Tomb, Christ defeats all evil – illness, death, and even Satan himself.
Dave tested positive for covid-19. With an underlying severe heart condition his risks are significantly higher and he’s been living the last couple of years under a cloud — a dark cloud — dealing with the death of his longtime companion, his son’s deployment to Afghanistan, betrayal in another relationship, a very serious auto accident, and, of course, his declining heart health issues. He needs prayer — lots of prayer — as he battles his biggest challenge: loss of hope.
We come to You, Lord, because prayer is the least yet the greatest thing we can do for each other. When two or more are gathered in Your name, we confidently know You are with us. What better company can we have? You reign and we trust You! We may be broken and battered but know You heal and quiet the soul. You are the source for all that happens in our lives. We thank You for the progress being made. We thank You for the many blessings we have received this week — some we unfortunately didn’t notice. Nonetheless, those blessings are ever-present in our lives. We thank You for healing. We thank You for slowing us down. We thank You for providing us our daily needs — no more and no less. We thank You for being with us, listening to us, walking with us on this journey. We thank You for the support of our family and friends … for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary — sunrises, sunsets, flowers, kids laughing, adventures, good news amid the bad news. We know we can come to You with our concerns and they will be heard. Through Christ all things are possible. We lift up those family members and friends who are battling various physical, emotional, financial, career or spiritual issues and ask not for Your guidance and healing (although that would be welcomed) but to keep reminding us we are not alone in our battles. Specifically we lift up Andrew, Dave, Dan, Nick, Maria, Julie, Nipa, and all those needing Your healing and guiding touch. We pray for the families of all those You have called home. We grieve … You celebrate. We pray for obedience to Your Will so Your “Son” Light shines through us through the power of the Spirit. And we come to You through the confidence of the words taught by Your Son Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
It’s somewhat appropriate. The prompt this week is ANOTHER. While recognizing all the Lord has provided, we are still living in uncertain and often fearful times. Today is yet another day battling with ourselves and the effects of the coronavirus. It is also a new day with the sunshine {at least here in Kentucky} warming the brain for random thoughts on the subject.
“When Sara “Gitz” Frankl began blogging in 2008, she was searching for her life purpose. The disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis stripped Sara of the ability to work to make a living. As a young, vibrant girl in her late 20s and early 30s, she so desperately wanted to be a productive member of society. The goals Sara had for her life … a career, family, travel, were no longer something that could be achieved. Sara’s blog, Gitzengirl, provided her not only a purpose, but a community of people that proved to be her lifeline as she became theirs. Sara may not have been able to work to make a living, but this blog brought her a life! When Lisa Jo [Baker, the original hostess] began challenging her bloggers with Five Minute Friday, it provided Sara’s week with something to look forward to … something that brought her joy. Being confined to her home 24/7 and restricted from visitors because her immune system was compromised, those special things she could look forward to became priceless to her. Sara never missed an opportunity to provide her readers with some of her most profound and deep thoughts through her five minute Friday posts. I believe you can hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit in many of Sara’s Five Minute Friday writings. Those writings provided us with an opportunity to hear our Heavenly Father working through one of His earthly disciples … my sister … Sara!
There you go. Now to this week’s task. The timer is set. Let’s GO…
… They don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
This pandemic — like all other disasters we face in life — will either split us apart or bring us together. Commit yourself to coming together in the future — as a family and as a community.
I’ll add pray because it’s what I do, but that doesn’t mean just words; it means talking to God from your heart, sharing your innermost thoughts, fears, wants, and needs. He knows anyway.
A couple of weeks ago, Angelina and I ventured to Simpson County in southern Kentucky to witness first-hand the phenomenon of Spray Paint Road. As an extra bonus that day, I stopped at the Franklin/Simpson County Visitor Center to take in a collection of murals on the back wall. Last week, we literally came across a Fork in the Road.
You won’t actually find Spray Paint Road on a map. It’s actually Kummer Road. I won’t say it was the most interesting place I have ever visited, but it was … well, different. The graffiti and spray paint art along the 3/4 mile stretch of the mile and a half road is littered with spray painted graffiti — the kind you might see on overpasses, water towers of freight cars, like all sorts of images, sayings, dedications, dates, initials, and just about everything else in spray paint on the road. I’ve included some of the more imaginative ones {see pictures}.
The tradition apparently dates back decades. I actually confirmed that when I spotted a family adding their art and the matriarch told me through the open window it was a tradition back when she was in school “… and that was 20 years ago.” Down the road a bit was another family memorializing their artistic talent. The irony is the stretch of road is between two cornfields, both of which were being actively worked.
Some say the tradition and hobby of painting the road began back in the 70s, but it was definitely in full force by the 1980s. At one point, the road was paved over, but that didn’t stop locals from continuing their artistic expression, allegedly before the asphalt was even completely set.
I also discovered a neat eight panel outdoor historical mural at the closed Franklin/Simpson County Visitor Center. The pup and I walked along the trail taking it in. The detailed, realistic murals are painted on a 200 foot long highway retaining wall built along US Highway 31W.
he murals depict scenes from 200 years of Simpson County history. An underlying theme linking the painting is the changing modes of transportation along the “Louisville to Nashville Pike”. They included horse-drawn carriages, Civil war steeds, train locomotives, mules, farm wagons, automobiles, pickup trucks, school buses, tractor trailers and recreational vehicles — each artistically showing the role they played in the development of this major national north-south highway. The paintings depict the advances in transportation over the years and serve as a metaphor for the growth of Franklin and Simpson County.
website, moving from left to right, the paintings journey from dawn to sunset and also chronologically through the seasons from winter to fall.
Mural 1 is “Duel at sunrise” (1819-50). Murang in the sheaves” (1875-1900). 
Mural 4 is “High Noon – The Courthouse” 
(1900-25). Mural 5 is “Mule Day Afternoon” (1925-50). Mural 6 is “School Days, School Days” (1950-2000). Mural 7 is “Drive-time” (1950-2000). Mural 8 is “Riding off into the Sunset” (2000 and Beyond).
Not being from the area, the significance of the depictions may have gotten lost while taking the self-guided tour. There is a capstone in front of each that does put the painting in some historical context. And I did learn about two of the area’s famous sons. Jim Bowie invented the Bowie knife. Old Jim fought at the Alamo. Alexander Majors was a co-founder of the Pony Express.
The 20-foot tall salad fork stands at the junction of Bunch Road and Uhls Road, northwest of town. It was, according to news reports, commissioned by Kent Kelly, and was constructed by the Franklin-Simpson High School Class of 2018 welding class under the direction of welding teacher Jeremy Loveall, who oversaw the statue’s design and assembly after first presenting the idea to his students. Traughber Mechanical Services completed the laser-cutting of the fork’s handle and prongs, and Hill Valley Concrete poured the base.
Briefs 
Thoughts From The Bunker 
While ordered to be sheltered in place, Kentucky is allowing exercise ventures as long as appropriate social distance is maintained. So I have been taking advantage of the reprieve.
It was a beautiful da
The latest round trip to the falls took about four hours. I’d like to say most of it was sightseeing, but the truth is about 45 minutes was spent sitting on a log resting when dehydration led to a drop in blood pressure. Technically {I learned this after the fact}, the episode was categorized as a vasovagal syncope episode. In this situation, the balance between the chemicals adrenaline and acetylcholine is disrupted. Adrenaline stimulates the body, including making the heart beat faster and blood vessels narrower, thereby increasing blood pressure. Acetylcholine does the opposite. When the vagus nerve is stimulated, excess acetylcholine is released, the heart rate slows and the blood vessels dilate, making it harder for blood to defeat gravity and be pumped to the brain. This temporary decrease in blood flow to the brain causes a fainting episode.
Actually, I never actually fainted. As I was walking back to the parking light, I first started to notice the white clothes my fellow travelers wore {I always let them by} dominated my vision. The whites just overshadowed the rest of my vision. Then I started to feel a little dizzy and lightheaded. But, in my defense, I recognized something wasn’t quite right, spotted a fallen log, and spent 
The path included a short dip — about six or seven feet — across a rock studded creek, then back up the other side, continuing along a winding trail. Just behind the bend was the welcome sight of the parking lot.
The trails were rocky with a lot of exposed tree roots which helped with the footing. But they were relatively wide and very picturesque. There were some people in hammocks along the river. There were kayaks and canoes in the lake and river. There were families by the waterfall, some cooling off under the gentle spray. And it was picturesque. Trees were starting to bloom. The water was soothing. The waterfall wasn’t wildly cascading, but steadily spilling from the upper river to the lower pool.
In his fine book, The Business Bible, Rabbi Wayne Dosick tells of a soapmaker who challenged a rabbi: “What good is religion? It teaches honesty, but most people are dishonest.”
Four witnesses. Essentially, they recount the same story from four different perspectives, each subtly different, yet remarkably the same. The skeptics may dismiss them as repetitious. Of course, they reason, the stories are the same. It is to reinforce a message … not necessarily true. Of course the Scripture of the New Testament fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament. The New Testament is hollow without fulfillment.
f that was the end of the story, though, I seriously doubt we would be here today celebrating the empty tomb. I seriously doubt this cult we call Christianity would have grown and flourished. I seriously doubt we would have any real understanding of what it was God did for us through His Son Jesus Christ on Calvary.
Doesn’t that same irony exist today? As Christians, followers of Christ, don’t we complacently sit back and watch as the world self destructs? Haven’t many of our church leaders compromised the foundation of our Christian belief — this book … Holy Scripture — for the sake of political correctness? Haven’t we Christians allowed the agnostics and atheists around us — the minority few — to dictate to us what we can and can’t do in the name of Christ? Haven’t we heard enough about tearing down crosses in cemeteries and taking prayer out of school and allowing the wanton carnage of innocent life in the womb?
No, the story didn’t end with Jesus’ death. It couldn’t have ended there. There had to be another ending. There had to be a connection that brought the whole business of redemption full circle. And that connection is the empty tomb.
Today will echo the traditional profession of faith “He is risen.” The air will be filled with “Alleluias” and the mood in our virtual churches will be appropriately festive.
Because He lives. Not because he lived. He lives. In the present tense, an active verb.
This is a special week. First and foremost we celebrate the Empty Tomb. Our world is currently being battered and torn with the coronavirus pandemic. But we know through that Empty Tomb, Christ defeats all evil – illness, death, and even Satan himself.
After doing a CT scan, doctors found a large tumor on Steve’s right kidney and multiple metastatic tumors dotting down his spine. He was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma, kidney cancer. In December he had a major spinal surgery in order to prevent paralysis as one of the tumors was pushing on his spinal cord. Again in February, he had another surgery on his lower back to fuse some vertebrae which were unstable due to another tumor. He is currently undergoing multiple immunotherapy treatments, including radiation and keytruda infusions. However, this is palliative care and there is no cure. Prayers are needed.
I like to think I’m a patient person. I try to not speak in haste or anger {not always successful}, but think things through. Some feel it’s a weakness because my nostrils don’t flail at injustice.
If I was part of the apostolic circle, I probably would have been more like Thomas, with a little bit of Peter thrown in. I say this because, while I have the passion of Peter, it is often tempered by my doubts.
The Light 