Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

How mixed, how unsure, how confused our thoughts and feelings can be! When, if ever, do we really understand ourselves and what we really feel or think? We say one thing and live and act as if something else were how we truly felt. To be organized consistently around a core of beliefs that all hang together might be ideal, but who achieves it?

This difficulty was well illustrated in this. In advance of a visit to alumni of the college in a particular town, Ed from the alumni office called former students living in Hillsberg. Rather gruffly Al Burnside said over the phone: “I hated all of my four years at Bildad College.” Ed speaks a bit more with him and before the conversation ends, Al says: “If you're going to be coming up here, bring me a few loaves of that bread they make.”

Possibly we could say his head says I hated the place while his heart (the stomach?) has fond memories of it. Mercifully, even our hate and dislike are not total, even an unpleasant experience might have its tolerable moments. We talk about sorting out our feelings and that seems a good term for what we often need to do.

What do I truly feel or believe or think? Some introspection, some time, the different perspective that comes with distance and age, all can help us figure out who we are and what we think. We need patience with our own inconsistencies as much as we do with those of others.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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