Chilling with Fr. Eddie

Happy Easter Everybody  The following is the Easter Message I had inserted into the bulletins.  Enjoy! Easter Message 2018 Bad news, the supposed long awaited for Messiah, aka, Jesus of Nazareth, was just put to death by crucifixion.   He didn’t last long on the cross, barely three hours, but he was pretty well torn up beforehand.   This son of Joseph and Mary who claimed to be all that and who said some nice things and did some neat tricks is no more.   So much for that “Messiah”.   Yet another another attention grabber who promised so much but delivered nothing. April Fools! That son of Joseph and Mary happens to be the Son of God who IS the Messiah who rose after being dead for three days.   When all seemed like a total loss and an embarrassing defeat the victory was won.   Only God could pull something like that off. At times life can be so overwhelming and we can’t see the light anymore.   Tragedy, internal battles, horrib...

Today I concelebrated Mass at Sacred Heart.  The celebrant, Fr. Mark, talked in his homily about how the palms here are a lot different than the ones in the part of Africa where he is from.  There, the palms are palm trees.  Every part of the tree is useful for some important purpose.  Since I don't have a memory that remembers details, I cannot relate what each part is used for, except that the trunks are used for the rafters for buildings.  He tied this in by saying that just as no part of a palm tree goes to waste, so too none of the sufferings of Christ go to waste. Wow!  I truly wish this would have been the centerpiece of his homily and that everything he said would have touched to this.  So instead I want to use this for a personal reflection.... a very honest and real reflection.... so be prepared for some serious vulnerability. As a priest, I could easily go on and on about the merit of Christ's sufferings and how redemptive they are and h...

I took this after the FSU basketball game.  Little Dude and Sienna together in my duffle bag.  I am so blessed to have these cute doggies.  They give me so much comfort.  

I love watching this video.  I shows all that goes into putting this on.  Lots of very talented people coming together to put something so beautiful together for us to enjoy.

Who are the people who "raise us up?"  Who challenges us to be better than we think we can be?

An amazing performance by two very gifted and wonderful superstar performers.  Enjoy!

Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days. This weekend was rather busy in a good way.  Saturday early afternoon I ran a few errands and wanted to concelebrate Mass that evening at Sacred Heart, but I took a nap and didn't wake up until my ride showed up.  I thought briefly about trying to quickly get ready, but simply didn't have the time to do so.  I guess my body needed the rest. Sunday morning I concelebrated Mass at St. Elizabeth.  It was my first appearance at that Mass since my leave of absence.  It felt good to be there and was like a shot in the arm for me.  After the Gospel I gave an update to everyone of what I have been through and what still lies ahead for me.  People can't believe all that I have been going through.  After Mass I got lots of hugs and tried to talk with as many people as possible at breakfast.  People are unbelievably patient and understanding.  The biggest sentiment was to not over do it and just ...

Another Casting Crowns favorite. As you can see, I love looking these songs up on YouTube.  What is so great about YouTube is that you can look up a song or artist you know, and there are recommendations for similar songs and artists. So it is a great way to discover artists you may never had heard about before.

Casting Crowns are another group I really like.  I love their lyrics.  Enjoy!

Wednesday evening I celebrated Mass at St. Elizabeth.  It was good to do, but it was way more painful than I thought it would be.  I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad so I could take over the weekday Masses at both places again, but unfortunately, that will have to wait.  I am planning on concelebrating Masses at both parishes this weekend.  Hopefully that will be more manageable. So yesterday I slept most of the day and I feel very tired and weak today.  It isn't fun feeling like this especially since it is so beautiful outside.  I would love to be on a tractor right now or tending a burn pile... anything productive outside would be a dream. It is so frustrating, but then I looked at my calendar and realized that it was only 2 weeks since my surgery.  It feels so much longer, probably because of the flu.  Ahhhhh, patience. I am so grateful that everyone else seems to understand my situation better than I do.  I feel so guilty at times f...

This morning I'm over at Sacred Heart.  Some guys are on a retreat for a couple of days and they are spending this morning at the church.  It is so good to be back here after a couple of weeks away.  It's chilly, but sunny and bright.  This is the first retreat we are hosting here of hopefully many to come. I also got to meet a couple of guys here who are helping out.  They are setting up a statue that came in a few weeks ago and are taking care of a few other odds and ends.  It is a huge blessing to have such great help here.  It's so hard too to not jump in and start up a power tool or start digging away at something.  Ahhhhh.... the dreaded p word.... patience. The more I read about the after care following surgery, the more I realize how limited I need to be.  Basically, outside of a little walking and lifting essentials, I can't do much else.  Bummer, but I am learning to enjoy the things I am able to do... like get out of the h...

Here is a photo of my classmates. Fr. Wilfredo is far left. Fr. Jose is next to me

This morning I got my other 2 dogs back.  So it is one big happy family here again.  I really missed Little Dude and Sienna and I know Gigi did too.  Gigi is a different dog when they are around.  She has a lot more energy, is more playful and eats a lot better.  Dude and Sienna are well.... Dude and Sienna.  Perfect lap dogs who just like chilling with me.  Of course they had to find a hole do dig out of the fence right away.  But that was an easy fix.  I guess I needed the fresh cold air and exercise. Last night I attended the St. Elizabeth Parish Council meeting.  It was good to get out of the cave and have human interaction again.  The parish seems to be doing well and so many people are working extra hard to keep things going in the midst of my medical issues.  I said I would try to get more involved and try to take on a few things before my next surgery.  The response I got back was, please be careful.  They r...

Not much to report today. Just ate and slept. I thought I was going to be a little more active, but my body needs the rest. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers

Today's Gospel comes from the Gospel of John.  I would like to focus on the first part, Chapter 3 verses 14 and 15: "Jesus said to Nicodemus: 'Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." The reference Jesus is making is to Number 21:4-9.  The people complained against God and Moses in the desert, so God sent serpents as punishment to strike the people.  After the people repented, God instructed Moses to make a serpent and mount it on a pole so that whoever had been struck by the serpent and looked at the bronze serpent that was lifted up would recover. Spiritually, we have all been struck by the serpent... the evil one.  We have all fallen into his traps by sinning and in some way or ways, big or small, have offended God.  But the sting of this serpent is far worse.  It is not bodily death, but spiritual death... especially in the case of mortal sin...

I am steadily getting better.  My appetite has fully returned.  I have less periods of feeling extreme cold or heat and I am sleeping so much better.  Still tired most of the day, but at least I can sleep when I want to... until Gigi wakes me up by sticking her cold nose in my face.  She is cute.  I do miss Little Dude and Sienna.  I hope too get them back in a couple of days.  I know Gigi misses them, especially Sienna. One advantage of being sick now is that I got to sleep in through the Spring time change.  So no extra early wake up for me this morning.  I have to enjoy some perks, right? My soreness and drainage is more constant.  The spikes in pain are a lot less frequent, but I feel like I am always in some amount of pain. Admittedly, I have been feeling very down this past week and angry.  I know it will all pass and maybe some time this summer I will be able to start exercising again, but right now it is so tough. I kn...

A little artsy for sure, but that is the beautiful point.  Art, nature, so many ordinary things we see in life are "expressions of His love"

Hi everyone, thanks for reading this blog. Sorry for taking so long to do this post. This is the second day that I am feeling better, so I must be getting over this flu thing.  My appetite is getting back, but I have to go easy with food, but it feels soooo good to eat again. The last couple of days the pain and discomfort from my surgery has kicked in a bit as well as the drainage.  I don't think it is a bad thing.  It is supposed to be draining (by the way it is gross and unpleasant).  I think the pain is supposed to be getting better... maybe... at least it is supposed to be more bearable than it was before the surgery. My fatigue has also kicked in a lot. I think that has to do with my lack of sleep this past week because of the flu.  Now that I can breathe again, I can actually sleep.  So I guess my body is trying to catch up. Anyways, if there is something I can add to make this whole blog more enjoyable to read, please let me know. Fun fact...

After several days of progressively getting worse, I woke up this morning feeling a little better.  Not a lot better, but at least a little.  No chills, but still not much of an appetite and pretty weak. I weighed myself and saw that I lost about 8-10 lbs this week.  Sweet!  At least something positive from all this misery.  A few more pounds and I will finally be under 200. Thank you everyone for your prayers.  They are a huge help. So, now to think of a video for the day...mmmmm.....

something more positive

So I was diagnosed with the flu on Tuesday and my doctor promptly sent in a prescription for Tamiflu.  I waited all day and nothing.  I got an email saying the prescription was delayed.  I called the pharmacy and they said they needed an authorization from my doctor's office.  Ridiculous!  So I called and left a message with the nurse in charge of prescriptions.  After a while... still nothing.  So I called the doctor's office again and spoke to someone who said they would send that authorization in.  By mid morning... this morning.... still nothing.  So I called the pharmacy asking why it has been 2 days and still no prescription fulfilled.  They started with, well, we have to wait for approval from your insurance since it needs to be 90 days before they will issue another prescription... oh wait.... it's been over 90 days.  We will fill that right now.  Are you kidding me???? Two days of no relief from sheer misery that has c...

If you are reading this blog, please text me "God loves you" A bonus today is that you get to watch a very uplifting video by King and Country. I love this duo because they are so passionate about what they are singing and their message is so good and needs to be heard. A fun fact about For King and Country, is that they are the younger siblings of Rebecca St. James. She was a very popular Christian artist when I was in my early 20s.  I got to see her perform a couple of times and she was great as well.  Another fun fact... now that Rebecca is married and has a child, she is experimenting with joining her brothers on tour. That would be a concert I would love to see. Enjoy!

I guess the flu is a lot better than an infection from surgery.  Doctor says it looks like the incision area is healing well and I am doing a good job of keeping it clean. I still feel rough this morning.  Sometimes I feel very hot, other times I feel like I am somewhere in the Antarctic. Fun. Gigi was a pain last night.  I let her outside then I fell asleep watching tv.  BIG mistake! When I opened the screen door to the back, I heard her but she was clearly not in the fence. I opened the front door and she came right in, but she smelled horrible!  She had gotten into something and rolled all around in whatever it was.  So much for a $35 bath. I had no choice but to bathe her.  So FILTHY, but I was able to get the odor out.  So this morning I had a hole to fill in.  Not the best thing to do in my condition, but I had to.  Now Gigi is passed out next to me like a daring angel. Life is too short to be boring

Here is the video I tried to share a few days ago.  Enjoy

I saw my doctor today and it is confirmed I have the flu.  I got the flu shot. A few weeks later I caught strand A flu.  Now I have strand B flu.  Fun!  At least I got Gigi back so she is so comforting to have around and so full of love. I am sharing this video of Plum because this is exactly how I'm feeling right now.  Very beat down and I just want to cry.  I'm in pain, my body aches, I am very tired, but restless, very frustrated and I just want to get well again and get back to ministry and being with all of you.  You have no idea of how much I miss ministry... it's not a job, but very much a part of me that brings me so much life. Thanks for all your prayers.  I shudder at the thought of how much worse it would be without your prayers.

Good morning everyone. I hope you find this blog helpful. While I do enjoy communicating with all of you directly, this has sure made things a lot easier for me and has helped me get more rest instead of attempting to text and call over 15 people daily. Last night I felt terrible!  I was achy, had the chills and was worn out.  I must have had a fever.  So I am calling my primary care doctor today to get an appointment. It would not surprise me if I got the flu again... we will see. I just learned how to share a YouTube link!  I can't do it by phone, but a regular computer makes it happen so much easier.

Hi everyone! Remember when I played this song for a Sunday homily?  So inspirational and never gets old.  Enjoy!

I just got back home. What an insane trip! Highs, lows and twists and turns. Thank you to everyone for your countless prayers and all of your love. Thank you also to Jim who drove me and was with me through everything. Such an easy going gentle personality who really cares. I could not have done this trip without him.

"we, who are bowed down by our conscience, may always be lifted up by your mercy." Above is taken from the Collect, or Opening Prayer for Sunday Mass yesterday. How often during Mass do we go through many of the prayers and rarely pay much attention to them?  We pay attention to the readings and the Eucharistic Prayers, but are we really focused and listen to the other prayers being offered? If we don't pay much attention to these other prayers, we are really missing out. The part of the prayer I am pointing out is beautiful, humbling and powerful. Guilt can at times get the best of us... not a bad thing, but if we are not open to the mercy of God, we deprive ourselves of so many graces and beauty that God desires us to enjoy. The image of us being bowed down by our conscience is powerful.  It pictures us in a broken state that acknowledges a separation from God. That separation is never fun and can impact so many other areas of our life.  Basically, it can put us ...

On Friday, the day of surgery, I had to do the typical fast starting midnight. I didn't check in until 11am and was waiting for a long time in pre op with Jim. We were talking about what I would like to eat after surgery. I decided a nice veggie pizza with feta cheese. Jim added anchovies to it then for good measure, I topped it off with jalipinos. At 3:30 pm they wheeled me into the o.r. and at 4:30pm I was in recovery. Since my body does not respond well to knives, what should have been a recovery time of 1 1/2 - 2 hours, turned into over 4 hrs. When they wheeled me out to Jim's car, I happened to pass by a pizza delivery guy. I told him I would take the pizza. He looked at me confused. So I told him again I would take it. He finally caught the joke and just laughed... without giving me the pizza. Don't worry, the next day Jim drove around a bit and got me a pepperoni piza... no feta, anchovies or Jalipinos, but there was plenty of goat cheese at the rectory.  Ahhhhh...

When I found out that I would have to go to the Cleveland Clinic in Westin FL, I contacted a classmate from Miami to see if there was anyone I knew who had a parish in the Ft. Lauderdale area. He told me Fr. Wilfredo, another classmate of ours, was just assigned to one in that area this past summer. Fr. Wilfredo could not have been a better host. He was so gracious and flexible and was genuinely happy he could help us. His parish was only about an hour away from Cleveland Clinic, which was super convenient. An added bonus was that the evening before my surgery, Fr. Wilfredo and another classmate of mine, Fr. Jose, anointed me with the Sacrament of the Sick. I was so overwhelmed with how special this was and almost cried. God is so good.

Yesterday/ last night I decided to take a break from my pain med to get away from the uncomfortable side effects. That worked nicely. However, the pain was incredible. So, for the ride home (I'm not driving) I'm back on the pain meds and am hovering somewhere between Saturn and Neptune.

Sooooo, I have been working hard to figure out how to link youtube videos to this blog. I haven't figured it out. However, if you 1. highlight the address 2. Copy address 3. Open your web browser 4. Paste address to web browser 5. Click enter That should work. If there is an easier way: please, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know. There are lots of inspiring videos I want to share and reflect on.

https://youtu.be/n_aVFVveJNs I posted a link to Lauren's song about trusting in Jesus. This song has been on my heart a lot the last couple of days. I want to trust in Jesus in everything that I do and say, but there are times that it gets so difficult. I want Jesus to do things the way I want Him to.  After all, is good health such a bad thing? Lauren wrote this song at a time when things were not going so well in her life. She reminds us that even when things go terribly wrong and we can't understand what Jesus is doing, we need to reach out and trust in Him. This actually plays into the whole Passion we live out in Lent, right? Everything seemed to be going totally wrong when God does the unthinkable and brings life back in a way that is infinitely better than when it started. So yeah, trust in Jesus... it will all work out.

I want to thank all of you who are praying for me and showering me with so much love. I am so blessed to have you as my family, friends, and parishioners. You inspire me and lift me up during the most difficult challenges. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hi Everyone! It's me again... Fr. Eddie aka ptredneckcyclist only 3 1/2 years and 45 additional pounds later. I decided to start a new blog to keep everyone informed about my health and to pass along reflections that may be an inspiration to you. Lots of people want to know the latest of my health updates and it has been getting a bit tiring sending out a bunch of texts and emails and calling everyone. Also, my health has greatly limited what I can do, so this is me acknowledging the positive and offering reflections, stories, etc that you may enjoy or at least talk about with your friends. So enjoy!

On Friday, I had surgery to find out what all is going on inside that has been causing a lot of discomfort. Doc decided to open things up a bit and allow the infection and fluid to drain for the next month and a half to 2 months. After that time passes, I will likely have another surgery to correct the issue. This will likely be way more invasive and painful, but hopefully resolve everything.