From Sal:
Skip, thank you for pointing out my slip from glory to grace. Isn’t this astounding? How could anyone deny that Joe is not just listening, but actively putting in his two cents plus?
I reread and am astounded, especially since “Al’s well that ends well.”
“A life lived for the greater glory of god, indeed. Everybody who was lucky enough to have run into Joe, or rather, have been run into by Joe, somehow knows, that is what Joe was all about. Amen.”
I didn’t have the heart to go back to Silver Dollar golf, but I forced myself to last Friday. Of course, Joe would have been ecstatic about the round of golf bob grant and i had, (with Joe in our hearts and in our heads). Bob hit some of the best drives in memory, and each time he would lament, “Too bad Joe didn’t see that to compliment me on what an astounding, incredible, life-changing drive that was.”
Then when we got to the hardest hole on all the courses, the monster number one handicap hole with an “s’, that is two dog’s legs. We have only parred it twice in the past ten years. This year bob grant got off three huge drives that got us to within ten yards of the green. (We have never gotten on in three to my memory). Bob was exhausted and let me go up for the chip and putt. I took out my sand wedge, slowly lofted it up the hill to the green and sunk it for a birdie. ( First time ever on that hole.) Can’t imagine what Joe would have said, or rather, shouted.
All I could do all morning was miss joe asking every conceivable question from “Do you think Trump will end up in jail” to “Will Biden’s son end up in jail?” to “Will Sal Umana end up in jail? (just kiddin’) “
The guys in the pro shop were all lined-up and in mourning, and we had to describe Joe’s untimely death over and over again.
But then, after golf, when we sat down for lunch, Allison, Rose, and Samantha all had to give us huge hugs, and it was heartrending to see how much they missed joe.
Today I went to my hall of fame in front of this computer, and couldn’t find a spot on the wall for Joe’s memorial picture and the eight photos from the Sammy’s. So I had to remove the picture from Time magazine showing Robin Williams doing a mime holding up the San Francisco golden bridge. I put Joe in Robin’s place. I need Joe a lot more than Robin Williams right now.
From Skip:
Indeed, Sal, I believe this is Joe interjecting his thoughts into yours. Joe would never admit to being the manifestation of glory, however, he would certainly gratefully say that he was graced with God’s blessings and favor.
I know Joe only from our one corporal work of mercy — visiting the sick — and his prolific postings on the AECR. What I always found incongruous about that very successful, very knowledgeable, very perceptive guy were his frequent comments of self-doubt, of not being holy enough, of not being good enough. And this coming from a guy whose entire life — personal and professional — was nothing but corporal works of mercy. So, my question for his Friday golf partner, Sal, is this: was Joe genuine in questioning himself and perhaps attempting to gain reassurance of this goodness and holiness, or was that a contrived cloak of humility?
I figure you know Joe.
From Sal
Meditation— Is God Love?
Robin Oickle recently posted this question on FaceBook, adding that many would say so. She went on to say,
“Love is an emotion. Is God an emotion? Presence is so much more than an emotion.”
I responded, “I’ve come to realize that love is so much more than emotion. Love, when honest, is truth. Based on that, I believe the meaning of life is a relationship, first and foremost with God and then with one another. Love is the life in the kingdom within. The sharing we do here is a hint of that kingdom.”
Robin replied, “I so agree.”
I should also have added, after God, “with self.”
Here’s my thinking. Love is energy and so is God. And both are eternal. And so are we — not our bodies as they are, but our spirit-self. Teilhard de Chardin sees creation as a constant in God’s timelessness. He believes God’s energy is evolution happening. That “Let there be…,” the Word, reverberates in the eternal Now. If matter and energy are indestructible, that Word, in the beginning, created us as well.
In the human concept and framework of time, our Befores and Afters seem to work directly against the eternal Now. They diminish the present and the presence that Robin mentioned in her post. But isn’t presence about relationship? And isn’t relationship about love, i,e., about God?
Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” And St. Augustine wrote, “Love and do what you will.” If we love as Jesus loved, are we not living the life of God within us? True, we are human and we all too often miss the mark. But when we do God’s will, we live lives of love. Isn’t that the challenge that comes with the “Let there be…” of every life?
Sal Umana 