Taking Risks

Right now my husband is getting the bike ready--checking the tires, loading the rain gear, giving all the mechanics a quick once-over before we take it out for the day. Oh, and one other thing, we're having the bike blessed at a local ceremony today. then we're riding up Rte. 11 to Lake Erie.

We met at a blessing of the bikes. Our priest (he was mine at the time) is a Harley rider, as are a few other priests in the diocese, and periodically they have motorcycle blessing ceremonies. I'll never forget Fr. Joe's homily that day. He talked about life being a celebration; about the need for taking risks. "Riding up Route 11 at 100 miles per hour might be overdoing it a bit, but if we don't take risks, how can we live the way God intended?"

Christianity today is the counterculture--though I think it's always been the counterculture. Even when it appeared that the Church was "in charge", it was really Church leaders willing to compromise their faith for the glory and riches of worldly power.

Look at the risks some of the saints took to uphold the true faith in the face of govenment powers: St. Thomas More; Maximillian Kolbe; the Jesuits of upstate New York; all but one of the first 34 Popes was killed by the Roman government.

More about this at a later date. We're going riding!