Fliday

 It's Fliday and Tlump is in China. I watched the celemony on Trademe last evening. The soldiers were all taller than Tlump and Xi. They must have had to scour the country for that many tall Chinese. I felt sorry for the children who had to jump up and down. Tlump stopped and applauded them several times.  Maybe he should have had the guts to indicate to them to just stand still; that would have sent a better message to the world!  The message he sent was that America is weak and grovelling . 

I'm off to Feilding after work to pick up my darling L. Tomorrow we will go shopping for last minute items we might need. 

In the first reading Jesus appears to Paul again in Corinth. "Don't be afraid to speak out. Nor allow yourself to be silenced. I am with you".

In the Gospel Jesus promises his disciples that they will see him again and be full of joy, and no one will take that from them.

In this world it is hard to maintain peace, let alone joy. We fret over so many things. When was the last time you felt joy? Joy is up there at the top of all elations. "A feeling of great pleasure, happiness and delight, often stemming from success, good fortune, or a deep sense of well-being..spiritually it is a deeper, resilient sense of satisfaction that is independent of circumstances". I like the last bit. It is one one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. "Love, joy, peace....". I think joy stems from a knowledge of being right with God. The opposite of joy is misery. It suggests that joy is something we can attain by living rightly. Misery therefore comes from living wrongly. 

Better move, have to pick up T then help clean the Creche. In the creche they have a little effigy of a Hindu goddess. It looks like a woman dancing. It's "a spiritual practice that helps devotees connect with divine energy". Does it? I wonder if parents really want their toddlers being familiarized with eastern spiritual entities? They'd be safe with a statue of the BVM; not so sure with spirits bordering on the demonic.

Have fun and get a hair cut if you need to.