Fr Mike's Notes

" God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,  and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,  and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,  those who count for nothing,  to reduce to nothing those who are something..." Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  Blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of my name, your reward will be great in heaven. With so many people calling for peace in our times, why are so many people deaf to them?  From all parts of the earth, people are living in fear and trepidation because of the actions of a few.  Was it originally fear that made the US great?  Does anyone remember the Cold War?  Two superpowers always trying to out-gun the other....

 I think I am going to need to become more like a college student and bring my laptop to class.  There are two things stopping me.  First, I don't type fast enough to pay attention to the lecture and type at the same time.  Writing is much easier.  Also, college lecture halls have theater seating and those folding desks attached to the right arm of the chair.  It's BARELY a triangle.  I'm trying to watch the other students but that is my primary excuse for no laptop in class.  However, maybe I should have my laptop with me for the library after class.  Lots of students do that too.  C'est le vie. When I was in my first year at the seminary, I was assigned to minister at a senior living facility just north of the campus.  I was given the charge to focus on the 5th floor of the building -- the dementia ward.  When a young lady in my class brought up her experience in her nursing clinicals with dementia, I was taken back into my m...

I would ask that everyone please keep in your prayers the soul of Fr. Charles Watkins on the 3rd anniversary of his death today.  Some memories of that day are still fresh and vivid, but more so the week leading up to his death.  There were plenty of images I sometimes wish I had never had to see, yet there are still many other images which I never want to forget neither.  There are ups and downs in every day of life.  Learning to cope and relying on family and friends is the primary reason I'm still able to function in this crazed world.  I thank God for the faith I have - a faith he and I shared - and for the many people who have come to my rescue many times over. This is actually a good segue for my post regarding yesterday's class and more things from yesterday's online lesson. Everyone has a deep-seeded way that they would prefer to die.  Everyone likely has wishes of what to do with their body after death, i.e. wake, funeral, casket, cremation, cemete...

 First let me thank those who have not only kept up with my blogs but have been sending me comments via email.  It's good to hear from you. In a recent comment from one of you, you say you are interested in how things were on first day of classes and believe that I have a good opportunity to get the pulse of youth.  I too hope to have some meaningful discussions.  FYI, no I am not wearing my collar to class.  I didn't even bring it with me.  Sorry if that disappoints you.  I have made it known to the professor and to a couple of the students so far of my vocation.  They seem to be curious as to what I was doing in taking this class.  As I've said, I want that younger perspective on death and dying and what their generation is believing in general about what lies beyond the grave.  I want to know what they think about how they view the sanctity of the human body.  I want to know how they grieve (if they do) and how they cope with it....

As many would probably figure, the first day of class was simply going over the syllabus and the expectations the professor has for us.  It's going to be a lot of writing as we are to turn in weekly reflections about the class discussion, reading, and his own lectures.  Part of the reflection is to come up with a question about each aspect (discussion, reading, and lectures), and not simply a yes or no question, but something that engages the reader.  Plus there will be quizzes and tests and essays, PLUS, each student is expected to give a presentation to the class.  It's going to be challenging to say the least.  I know it won't be the same amount of work the rest of the students are doing because it's my only class.  They are doing between 3-4 other classes as well. I spent time in the library again after class.  There are computers that people can use in some of the areas, but many bring their own laptops.  The program we are using is called Ca...

No class on this first day of the Spring semester at San Diego State University .  I arrived AT campus by 9:30am, but I didn't find out where I could park for about 30 minutes.  I would have definitely been late for class.  However, the young lady that told me which of the 16 garages on the campus were for student parking (3 in all of those 16).  I went to the one that would be closest to the building my class will be held.  It was totally full!  The young lady had warned me that Tuesday and Thursday are the days of the week that are the most busy on campus.  Lucky for me that my class is on Monday and Wednesday.  I finally parked in a garage which is attached to the campus by a bridge that goes over the main street. Once parked, I started out by going across that bridge and was immediately greeted by a set of stairs to climb.  For young people, these would be very easy as I remember how I could navigate stairs when I was a college student....

Today is the   birthday of one of the most notable religious and civil rights leaders, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  It's a federal holiday and I'm loving it.  I've been able to be a slug for the morning.  The class I will be taking while here in San Diego on sabbatical begins (technically) today, but will be on Wednesday.  It'll the first time I will step into the classroom in nearly 25 years.  It's exciting in the respect that I am simply in San Diego doing so and NOT in Chicago (it's WAY below freezing there this week).  It's exciting because I am curious about the subject matter of Death, Dying, and the Afterlife.  Sounds strange, but I believe this is a course that NEEDS to be taken by young people who have no real life experience with death and dying.  Video games only have resets and another try.  There is no grieving a video game character's demise.  And the many young people who are not being exposed to dying by their parents...

 It's been a little frustrating the last two days with my knowledge of how to get things done in terms of technology.  While in the end it worked out, I was trying to get myself registered for my class here in San Diego State University, I got stuck at an impasse in the university website.  I finally called to ask for help.  It truly was something easy that I thought I had tried but I must have missed something in the process.  Then today, I could not remember that new university student email.  I finally got in but it took forever. So my class on Death, Dying, and the Afterlife will begin next week.  It's a hybrid class - in person and online.  Monday and Wednesday are in-class days, and the schedule for online still reads "to be determined."  The in-person class time is about 50 minutes per class.  The next part of my agenda with the university is finding out about parking permits and then what books I will need to buy.  I have lo...

THIS TUESDAY WILL BE THE ANNIVERSARY OF WHEN I STARTED THIS THING!  MAYBE THIS YEAR I WILL MAKE A BETTER EFFORT TO BE CONSISTENT WITH HOW OFTEN I POST SOMETHING. I was thinking about my trip down here.  I think the most interesting thing I recall seeing along the way was an advertisement for bomb shelters.  No joke.  I found that to be a little disturbing.  I have also seen numerous names of streets that I wish I could remember more clearly, but many are street names with Spanish influence with words like "calle" "camino" or "avenida" built in (street, way, or avenue for those who are not familiar with Spanish).  It makes sense that would be part of the surroundings because it is so close to Mexico and it was here WELL BEFORE the current government regime. On that topic, BTW, I continue to hear from many politicians from BOTH parties that President Trump is running farther and farther away from being in charge of the longest standing democracy in history....

Today the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord by John in the Jordan River.  It's been a concept that so many people don't fully appreciate because Jesus was not born with original sin.  Since his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin by a singular grace, and Jesus was conceived by the power of God's Holy Spirit, there was no sin to be passed along.  It makes perfect sense to me since Adam and Eve didn't have original sin either - their offspring did but only AFTER they disobeyed God. Jesus' baptism by John was one of making John's baptizing others different.  Some may think that people who were baptized prior to Jesus had plain water.  However, the Jordan was the place where Elijah passed on the mantle to Elisha (his authority).  I even think of the story of Namaan the leper who was told by Elisha to plunge 7 times into the Jordan to cure his leprosy.  While he might not have believed Elisha at first, he did it anyway...

 Blessings to all on the January 10, 2026! Shout out to a friend back home whose sister passed away last night.  Love you bro and may she rest in peace. I am still getting acclimated to the surroundings.  I am trying to figure out walking distances (i.e. if something is within walking distance of the retreat center.  For example, Target is a couple of blocks north of here and definitely within range.  Maybe as I get farther into my time, I will be able to expand that walking distance radius. Saw a beach for the first time yesterday.  It's probably the closest one to have access.  Lots of people just looking out over the ocean, not many ON the beach, though there were a couple of surfers in the water. I know that weather back home is much worse than where I am now, but it's still a little cool.  Not quite ready to be sleeveless. I will be trying to make it to Mass tonight.  That actually depend on how long it takes to get my windshield replace...

On this date, 17 years ago, on a frigid January 9th, nearly 800 people came out to celebrate the life of my father, Edward Daniel Novick.  Yes, nearly 800 people.  That really is nothing by comparison to the amount of people that attended the wake the night before.  The funeral home was jammed with lots of friends, family, former little league baseball players dad coached over the course of 40 years, customers he sold life insurance to for 45 years, and lots of priests.  To say nothing of the many people who were there to be of support to my aunts and uncles on both sides of the family.  It was a madhouse on a very cold night.  People stood in line just to get into the funeral home.  The line seemed endless.  We greeted people for about 4 straight hours once people began to arrive.  One of the funeral directors had to come into the parlor and practically hold our hands and force us to take a break and lead us to food and drink. My father was ...

 My first order of business was to get here safely.  Mission accomplished! Didn't get in until nearly 6pm PST/8pm CST.  It was already dark.  A little hard to find but not too bad.  Since it was dark, I didn't see the Pacific last night.  It's now about 1:30pm back home and I just got out to see the ocean about 30 minutes ago.  I slept for nearly 10 hours as you might expect.  It felt different because I was not rushing to get on the road again.  Very comfortable accommodations.  Two bedroom townhouse pretty much to myself.  There is an adjoining door to another unit, but by all rights, I get to use it a bit too as it has the laundering machines.  There is a cute kitchen and a nice area to relax in on the first floor.  The bedroom suites are upstairs.  Tub/shower.  Walk-in closet.  Lots of books already here.  Not sure why I felt like I needed to bring some of my books from home, but oh well. In the nex...

 My fellow Americans... Whoops!  Wrong one.😆 I started out on Saturday January 3rd morning for San Diego, the homebase of my sabbatical.  I'm not there yet, but I have had some interesting driving time.  Since it is January, I decided not to take the shortest distance between two points route, which would have been taking Route 66.  Indeed that would have been nostalgic but that would have taken me through normally very frigid states this time of year.  I took the southern route.  Half of the trip would have been the same as I took when I went to San Antonio in 1997 for Spanish study (it didn't stick, by the way).  However, once I got to Dallas, I kept on going west.  So, that was Missouri, Arkansas, western Texas, and now, Tucson, Arizona. The worst part of the travel so far is that my beloved car (named Della) took a stone from a gravel truck on the far right side of the windshield.  It's spreading in length, but it has not crossed in...