SEPTEMBER 30, 2007

For the past couple of months, I have had a "crick" in my neck. Given the fact of my age and condition, I just chalked it up to arthritis or some such. But while I was in Oglebay last week, I noticed that I was getting up in the morning without the now familiar pain. Having done some consulation, I was advised to check my mattress here at the rectory at St. Mary (I had inherited it from one of the empty bedrooms. I think it was originally Fr. Feldmeier's, who was pastor here when I was ordained.) I discovered that there was a huge depression in the center of the mattress, it was so worn. This meant that I was sleeping in a most unnatural position, which could account for the "crick".

When I went to St. Catherine, there was no bed, so we just ordered one from a local furniture store. I therefore called Mary Ann from Oglebay and told her to order the same thing to be delivered to the Rocks. The problem was we were told that the laws had changed and they no longer stocked the same mattress. Now, I am not sure why my mattress is now illegal (I swear, I did NOT tear off the tag that bears the warning "It is illegal to remove this tag.") But we had to order a different mattress.

It is now on my bed here at St. Mary, but it is about a foot higher than my old one. It is much thicker, therefore higher. None of my sheets fit, I can't reach the floor now to put on my shoes, I have to reach down to turn off the alarm clock on my nightstand, and I think my ears pop from the elevation change when I get up. BUT, I am no longer in a depression, and my neck doesn't hurt any longer.

Sometimes we are resistant to change, fearing that it will not bring improvement, or at the very least will not be as comfortable as where we are. And in fact, some of that is true - nothing is ever an unmixed blessing. We often lose something in order to gain something. But we have to evaluate on the sum total of our progress, not just parts of it.

We all, and especially me, have to keep this in mind as our diocese begins its life under our new (well, actually recycled) Bishop, David Zubik. If there were depressions before, perhaps we will be brought to new heights. If there is some adjustment and discomfort in doing do, overall we should be open to general advancement in the diocese in coming closer to the Kingdom of God, since we accept Bishop Zubik's appointment (as we did the end of Bishop Wuerl's service and the interim ministry of Bishop Bradley) as the will of God for the respective period of time.

We just have to trust, and pray, that with this new age in the life of the Pittsburgh Church, and our lives, we can get over any pain in the neck we may have had.