What A "Shady" Yet Spiritually-Uplifting Sunday For Me!

Sunday today. It's time to give thanks to God for all the benefits and blessings we've received and continue to receive. Time to go to church to attend/participate in the Mass, and receive Jesus through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. And, time to chill out, relax and rest, and live and enjoy life while we can, even if the weather is wintry cold, cloudy, drizzly and "shady" over Hampton Roads.

Yes, my friends, it's Sunday in English,"Sontag" in German, "Zondag" in Dutch, "Domenica" in Italian, "Dimanche" in French, "Domingo" in Spanish and Ilokano, and "Linggo" in Filipino. For Sunday in other languages, I didn't bother to find out. That would be your HW (homework), folks. Just kidding!

After my morning routine, I don't know what got me before 8 AM that I found myself logging on to my laptop computer. And visited Facebook. Thanks to God that I found myself watching an embedded video on YouTube about this Columbia Catholic Ministry. I ended up watching and listening to Columbia University's Fr. Dan O'Reilly's weekly update presentations. His were informative and educational, and inspirational, to me. I thank God for the opportunity to have learned something this morning.

Well, as I've indicated on the first paragraph, I think of Sunday, first and foremost, as a day to go to church to be in communion with my faith community. That's what my sis-in-law, my wife, and I did this morning at nine thirty, Eastern Standard Time. Our clustered parish pastor/priest, Rev. Fr. David officiated the Mass that has just started as soon as we arrived in church. (We were a little bit late, by two-three minutes probably.)

As usual, we all participated in the praying and praising and singing to our Almighty Father-God, and Jesus our Saviour. And serving for God. The last one was unexpected this morning but I didn't hesitate to say "Yes, I'm ever ready to serve you, God" and He let me be when called upon by Fr. David to serve as Extraordinary Minister for Holy Communion. (FYI: As regular member-parishioners of our church, St. Paul's Catholic, my wife and I have been volunteers as EMHC for years, and myself as volunteer Lector. We we're not scheduled for any assignment today but always available to fill in when someone or fellow EMHC doesn't show up.)

Before the Holy Communion rite, I was a bit apprehensive and perplexed, at first, when our pastor gave me that "come here" signal to join the complete eight EMHC on the altar. So without any hesitation, I joined the group to the altar. I was puzzled being an extra EMHC in the group. It was only after receiving Jesus, and about to give or distribute to our parishioners the "host" or "Body of Christ" that I found out that Fr. David has sort of colds or is not feeling well, he said. That's understandable, for health reasons. That's why he assigned me to take his place distributing or giving out the host or the Body of Christ to our fellow parishioners.

After the Mass, Fr. David thanked me for stepping up for him. I said, "no problem, Father. Anytime." You know, folks, I felt so good and at ease at that moment while serving our fellow parishioners. It was such a wonderful feeling! Please don't misconstrue me if I tell you, folks, that my spirituality was uplifted that moment when Jesus in the person of Fr. David  called me and I went to do wholeheartedly what he wanted me to do. My point is that we, as good Christians and/or followers of Christ, have to be always ready and available to serve when called upon.

I'm aware that I'm a sinner but, God knows, I'm trying to do what He wills me to do every day of my life. I'm inspired  to be good and to do good for Jesus's sake. I try to please everyone without hurting anyone. In short, I try to be a good Christian, available and ready for others, when needed, without any condition or reservation. And, I'm sort of that person trying to live the present moment well. That's me, humbly and simply.

Well, now, where did we go after the Mass? We decided to go to NEX/Commissary to have lunch at a Subway restaurant there, courtesy of my sis-in-law. (As always, we prayed before and after lunch.) I had a foot-long sandwich of egg and bacon with fresh vegetables, no salad dressing. And, a cup of coffee with cream and sugar, and a cup of water, no ice cubes in it. (I only ate half of it for lunch, saved the other half for my dinner.) For my wife and my sis-in-law, they had the same sandwich as mine, except that they had salad dressing, and iced tea. They also saved half of their sandwich for dinner. Before I forget, we had pictures taken while at Subway's.

After lunch, we walked our way to the main NEX store. There I ended up buying charger batteries for our cameras and sets of DVDs (History of the United States Navy, Pacific Battlefront, and The World in Conflict). From there, we proceeded to the Commissary. But we didn't spend that much this time because I had bought groceries from there two-three days ago?

So cold and chilly outside as we walked out to our car in the open parking lot! Folks, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining at all for it's the season---wintertime, you know! As you see (from our photos), I did try to dress up for the weather. Over here in Hampton Roads, the weather isn't that bad, compared to other cities or counties. On the other hand, other parts of the country are having wintery blast, snowstorm, such unpleasant weather conditions.

On our way back home, my wife and I dropped by a Dollar Tree store, in a neighboring city, to buy Sunday's The Virginian-Pilot edition and other stuff. I bought myself a new hard-cover book about Tuna: A  Love Story by Richard Ellis. (Don't know why but I tell you, I have this fascination with books.)

At the open cemented parking lot, I was delighted to see these two seagulls on the ground that I decided to take a photo of them. I wondered if they feel cold. They seemed to be okay out there.



At home, in the kitchen, my wife did put away some of the grocery items from the Commissary.


We had a couple of photos taken before we settled down.

Then, I did read some selected news articles aloud while my wife was checking at the ads for coupons. I intentionally read aloud with hope that she benefits from it. In between our conversation, we agreed that I have to turn up the heat two degrees to 70. That's a mutual agreement between me and my wife who usually does her schoolwork in the kitchen. Then, after that I went upstairs in our room to get my laptop. Back downstairs, I started writing my blog. Eventually I decided to continue it upstairs in our room while watching TV about that NFL game in San Francisco between NY Giants and SF 49ers. I've had several interruptions doing my blog, you know. It's really kinda hard to concentrate doing two things at the same time. But I tried to manage it. I've been all ears to the TV while my eyes were on the computer. NY Giants beat SF 49ers. Score was 20-17. The NY Giants will face off the New England Patriots in the XLVI Super Bowl on February 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Okay, friends, I've got to stop here now. Thanks for your time with me. Until next time around. Good night!
-chris a. quilpa, 22Jan2012