Friday, March 23, 2018

Catholic Hermit: Lent Continues with Surprises


The young family member who is struggling for life has had three major surgeries, now.  Septic shock tends to go "global"--meaning it spreads and pops up in various areas of the body, particularly the torso with life-threatening damage to organs.

This week we thought there was another trial.  A sonogram showed fluid (infectious) in the stomach area.  A CT scan was done late evening, and prayer requests put out.  Here we go again; and we were praying that there would be Divine Intervention: miracle needed.  The CT results came back in middle of night.  Not until the next day did we learn that amazingly, the scan showed no stomach issues!  Praise God!  She has a troubling fever, but not extremely high; so antibiotics are hopefully going to handle whatever that represents.  Her kidneys still do not function, but to do so is our prayer.

Having been close-in on the communications coming from the immediate family who are remaining at the teen's side at a marvelous children's hospital, I now have a realistic view of what "critical condition" entails.  Often I have read of various persons in news reports worldwide, that this or that person/s in "critical condition."  I grasp how serious is this designation, what it means to the person struggling to live as well as to the loved ones going through tension and trials along with the patient.

Somehow I find it all the better for my prayer life, to grasp the realities of suffering that others endure.  

On Monday last, my cousin called to give an update, and I made the comment that this will certainly be Lent that we will never forget.  To that, my cousin told me she did not want to hear me talk about Lent again.  She considered it negative and pointless.  I explained that rather than negative--although Lent often is arduous--it is God's way of allowing us a season each year in which we really do not need to "do" anything if we are in tune with what God allows, what God determines is best for each individual soul.  His purpose is to draw us closer to Himself, to save our souls, to improve our souls, to bit-by-bit perfect our souls.

Ever so positive and wondrous, is Lent!  Not always are the events negative to our human viewpoint are that which the Lord allows in our lives during this liturgical season.   Even what we perceive as positive can bring us closer to Him, can teach our souls much about the omnipotence, omniscience, and ever present to us is our loving God.  Much of Lent has to do with virtues and vices, in a labeled or organized aspect.  We can list out the vices and virtues and plug them into the various situations.  We can learn what it is we lack or what it is we would do well to expunge.

A surprise came to this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit this past week!  In the mail came my IRS paperwork and what I owe in federal taxes.  Yes, a great surprise it is, indeed, in the final tend days of Lent.  Compared to the all-time high tax bill last year which wiped me out financially and brought a family member to front some money so that I could finish this place and sell, this year's bill was a third higher!  

Last year my financial advisor said that the next year would be far lower and gave reasons why. But that was in error, obviously.  Well, I cannot pay the IRS and be able to finish, for also will arrive any day is the property tax bill.   I admit this late-in-Lent surprise rather paralyzed me from manual labor for several hours.  Then I began to laugh.

The Lord is asking of me total trust as well as to reassert to Him that if I have gotten so close to the end--within a month or so depending on my physical body--I totally accept if I am not allowed to finish what I started about five years ago.  

Three times I called the tax accountant, leaving a message in his most busy time of work year.  What to do?  Then while weeding outside, the Holy Spirit broke through my numbness and suggested not paying and then later paying with a penalty.  I researched online but found conflicting penalties and processes.  Finally the accountant called late last night. (I must remember to pray for accountants this time of year, for they work long hours with people who are stressed and upset with having to pay their taxes.)  

The solution is easier than I'd thought.  He can file an extension, and the penalty is far less than what I'd read online.  He explained that this is a hardship situation, and I will be paying it within a few months or before.  In the meantime, my aunt offered to cover the tax bill, also; but given the stress of her great-granddaughter struggling to live, and knowing myself that I'd be concerned should some odd thing happen--well, just better to file the extension and pay the low interest penalty.

However, the Lord provided once again, as He does all during Lent.  Perhaps He was waiting by the accountant not calling me after three days of my wondering yet knowing I must trust--the Lord wanted me to be open to His will in whatever would transpire.  Patience, trust, total detachment of temporal details, and continue focused dedication to a life of prayer for others seemed to be my tests. 

After the accountant called with what I considered break-through, holy news, I had texts from a high school lad who wants to work next week and bring a friend.  Then came a text from the marvelous Jean Patrick, the college student from Haiti, now a U.S. citizen.  He had told the hospital where he otherwise would work on his spring break, that he knew I would need help.  Between these young men, the yard will get put into order, and Jean Patrick and I can finish the filthy but needful insulation under the house.  A third remains to be insulated, and it is the area of the house of which the crawlspace becomes so low to the ground that we will have to squeeze under beams with our heads flattened sideways. Of course, there will be some rat carcasses to remove, as well.

Holy Week here in Te Deum Hermitage will be leveraged with hard, manual labor amidst prayer and adoration while working.  An adult daughter and grandson are arriving for two days of help, and we will continue with some finishing work inside.  What will remain for this hermit is the tiling of upstairs bathroom shower and floor, the kitchen backsplash tiling, and the treads, risers, bannister and balusters of the stairway.  Well, there are numerous minor tasks that all take time, but it is looking as if, God willing and body able, this old farmhouse will be finished sooner than the later.  Praise God!

An older friend who emails now and then has had quite a Lent, yet just today has had some good progress in the various challenges she and those near her were trudging through this Lent.  We are seeing that the Lord's death and resurrection for our salvation is beginning to rise in the nearness of Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  Christ's promise is rising and looming bright in the lightening of the crosses that we've been carrying through Lent.

Yet, it will not surprise me if more Lenten surprises come in the next week.  The soul remains ever open and willing to learn whatever it is the Lord sees that I need to recognize and learn in this liturgical season.  And of course, as it true for all of us--we are open and willing to learn whatever it is the Lord desires of us, any day and night of our temporal lives.

God bless His Real presence in us!

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