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Life is tough. Nuns are tougher.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Keep, Give Away, Throw Away



Is there a patron saint for the disorganized? Our parish could use some help lately. (Just don't send Sister Nicholas.)

Who said St. Nicholas was organized? Do not confuse organization with busyness. I'm sure it's a common error. If St. Nicholas were organized, I would be able to find my shoes. My own shoes.

I'm glad you mentioned that it was your whole parish that lacked organization and not you in your home. Because if it were your home, I would recommend St. Zita. Although she was a lowly maid, she never missed Mass or her appointments with the oven for bread making. This is back in the day when you had to do every single thing yourself. Those dirty clothes did not have a machine that washed and dried them for you. You had to make the soap to wash them yourself, no less. The bread was not lined up on shelves in keep fresh plastic. The beans and tomatoes and green peppers and peas were out on the vine. If canning had been invented by that time (the principle of canning was discovered during Napoleon's time according to that guy who had that show "Connections" a while back), you would have had to go pick the beans, tomatoes, green peppers and peas and then can them yourself.

St. Zita didn't have a screen door to help keep the dust down, She didn't have a Mr. Clean Eraser. If she had had a Mr. Clean Eraser, I'm sure people would have mistaken it's amazing properties for another of St. Zita's miracles. Have you used one of those things? Miraculous. I do not use that word lightly, believe you me. If your parish has black marks on the walls, get yourself a Mr. Clean Eraser and call it a day.

You'd want St. Zita, also, because she had a 'shoemaker and the elves' experience with all that housework and bread baking. She was about to get raked over the coals by her boss for having gotten up early and gone to Mass instead of doing her chores and duties, when it was discovered that the elves had done it all for her.

Not elves. We don't believe in elves.

Angels, no doubt.

But for a whole parish, hmmmm.....

Now, is the parish messy? For example, is the disorganization due to a lack of proper filing. The "in" and "out" boxes are not clearly marked?

For that type of thing, I'd go with one our great clerical types. Maybe St. Benedict. He was so strict with his organizational skills that some of the other brothers tried to poison him. Although underlings everywhere understand their pain, St. Benedict prevailed.

But if the whole parish is just in a bad state and really needs a good shaking up: St. Joan of Arc. A peasant girl who talked to God about what had to be done and then went and did it. Honestly, can you imagine being a French soldier sitting around in your own stench with your bow and arrows, back before anyone even invented canned peas, and having some little girl tell you, "Hey, fella, I'm the General now, and here's the plan we're following"?

She must have been one very compelling young lady.

Plus, those soldiers all kept their hands to themselves. My uncle Joseph often talks, very happily, about being a soldier in WWII in France and what a wonderful time he had while not in combat. So here is Joan, this young girl, the ONLY girl in sight no less, and all of those soldiers, even people like my Uncle Joseph, left her be. Remarkable.

If Joan of Arc can't whip people into shape, I don't know who can.

Tomorrow, I have to tell you about the bizarre irony of Sister Nicholas' favorite dish.

8 comments:

Moonchild Dancing! said...

Well I'm certainly going to be asking for a little help from St. Zita! :D A good message seeing how I was whimpering about not having a dishwasher with our family of 4! hehe doh.

AuntDsHandcrafts said...

I need to start praying to St. Zita for help!

Anonymous said...

Me too, boy howdy, I'm getting right on that one.

I'm still marvelling over your mother's story.

Anonymous said...

ooh, I hope it's sloppy joes! :)

Anonymous said...

St. Zita has long been my special friend in heaven. She has never let me down...and I call on her several times a day! I have actually been to the little house in Italy where she was born (actually a church built over the house). In the town of Pontremoli there is a statue of her on the ancient bridge into the town. It is said that St. Francis also crossed that bridge. I even have a grand-daughter named Zita!

Sister, do you have a medal or picture of St. Zita for sale?

Now don't all of you new friends of St. Zita go bothering her too much so that she doesn't have time to help her old friends out :)

Anonymous said...

Dear Sister, This really has nothing to do with anything discussed recently but I'm hoping you can address my question some time. I know I can count on you for an answer to a question that has perplexed me recently. Here goes: After our death and resurrection when we get back our 'glorified' bodies, I understand those that died at a very old age won't come back as weak and sickly but will have their bodies at the peak of health and vitality. I'm okay with that (if I understand it correctly) but what about children? I presume an infant would not get back an infant body and stay an infant forever. So if infants and children get an 'older' body, wouldn't Earth be kind of a sad place without any babies and children?? Thanks in advance for clearing this up for me.

bill7tx said...

Sister, thank you for your advice about a patron saint for our parish disorganization. It isn't a matter of filing or cobwebby corners, it is that nobody knows who is responsible for what (e.g., "Where is that list of the usher assignments for the month?") , so St. Joan is probably the one we need. St. Benedict would probably be a bit over the top.

Thank you also for the mention of St. Zita. My home office could use her intercession, although I know who's going to be doing the heavy lifting.

Anonymous said...

Can you recommend a patron saint for potty-training? I need help!