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November 7
St. Martin, St. Martin
After following a few rural roads I knew so well from the years I rode Bus #23 as a schoolkid, I arrived in St. Martin full of memories of old classmates. With a smile on my face thinking of Dad’s adage “The Devil can’t corner you in a round church,” I walked into the uniquely-shaped building and slipped in a pew next to former neighbors from Richmond. We exchanged a few discreet winks and waves as we finished the last decade of the rosary but did not exchange a word until after Mass.
Today’s gospel from Luke 15:1-10 “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” centered on Jesus’ scandalous behavior: hanging around with sinners and shunning normal conventions by choosing poverty instead of collecting material goods. Father Edward gave a simple yet meaningful homily about world possessions, “Don’t let your possessions possess you.”
Downsizing
Bring it on, Marie Kondo! I could show her a thing or two about joy and inanimate objects. My siblings and I had the daunting task of clearing out my parents’ belongings from the farm they had lived on since 1963–over fifty years. As they had grown up during The Great Depression, they were frugal and kept anything that might be useful. And even some things that were not useful. Friends who helped their parents downsize would nod at common kitchen accumulations: bread bags, twist ties, plastic containers with their lids, plastic containers with no lids, lids with no containers, etc. Dad was always careful to have spare parts on hand. If he bought a used tractor, he’d find another to purchase of the same make and model for spare parts. From room to room we sorted through the accumulations dating back to the Kennedy Administration including teaching supplies, tax files from the 70’s forward, multiple pairs of polyester plaid pants, several lifetime supplies of Carmex, gallons of car wash concentrate, twenty giant bags of cat food, enough calcium supplements to build an entire skeleton, the list goes on and on.
In many long days over the course of a few months, we eventually had the house, barns, sheds, and junk yards cleared. We definitely did not have much time to hold each object and determine if it brought us joy, but we shared a lot of laughs.
Motivated by both not wanting my kids to have to purge my stuff and a cancer recurrence forcing me to consider a shorter timeline, I was sufficiently inspired to downsize my own belongings. I had the boys go through their tote of school work I had saved since kindergarten. They laughed while they reminisced and eliminated anything they were not fond of. Lots of art construction paper was tossed. It was interesting to see how easy it was for them to pare down. So I, in the middle of parents who saved and kids who did not, judiciously sorted through my belongings and household items. Bookcases full of books I had read were donated to the library for someone else to enjoy. Multiple black cardigans in different lengths and weights were