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A GOOD CONVERSATION
I came across a number
of old friends this past week. On Thursday, 14 May, I went to
Philadelphia for a Mass, followed by a luncheon, in honor of
the 50th anniversary of the graduation of the Class of 1959 of
St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, of which I have the honor
of being a member.
My classmates and I were inducted into the Ancient and Honorable
Order of the Golden Hawks.
There were seven of us at the particular table at which I sat:
classmates and wives. The odd number (seven rather than eight)
was due to the fact that I had left my wife back in Girardville.
I sat down next to a man named George. I hadn’t seen George
for fifty years, but we remembered each other very well! George
was always a good guy, easy to like. I was happy to become re-acquainted
with him.
At the table the conversation
was mostly about family. Family is always the most interesting
topic of conversation.
George mentioned that he was
the fifth of thirteen children --- ten girls and three boys.
That caught the attention of the rest of us. We all had some
questions to ask him. One question we asked was, “How did
your Mom survive thirteen children?” He said that she survived
very well. She died at the age of 93! One of the women at the
table put forward the thesis that there might be a cause-and-effect
relationship there: multiple childbearing as a plus factor towards
longevity. Maybe someone has done a study on this?
I asked George how old his father was at the time he died. He
said his father died at the age of 46. I thought “Oh well,
there’s always a down side!” We might have to look
into the effects of multiple child begetting on the longevity
(or lack thereof) of men! I asked George if his mother ever
re-married after the death of his father. He said that she did
not.
Someone at the table asked
George how many of the thirteen children (i.e. George and his
twelve siblings) were married. George said that all thirteen
were married and are married. He then threw
in for good measure, “And all of us are still married to
our original spouses! None of us ever got divorced.” I
told George that, considering the times in which we live, this
is truly marvelous. Wonderful! God bless George, plus all of
his siblings and their spouses!
George was on a roll now.
He had our undivided attention. He shared a little family gossip
with us. He said that he was the fifth of his parents’
thirteen children. He said that, after the birth of the sixth
child, his mother said something to her husband about whether
he (the husband) thought that she should get her tubes tied.
Her husband (George’s Dad) said that she should go talk
with Father Shea (I guess he was the parish priest) and that
they would do whatever he suggested. So, she went to talk with
Father Shea and Father Shea said that life is full of difficulties
but that God will always see you safely through the difficult
times and that God will provide for your needs even if you don’t
see how He will do it and that, even if you think that you are
smart, you must remember that God is a hell of a lot smarter
than you are and, so, of course, you mustn’t even think
of having your tubes tied. So, she didn’t have her tubes
tied and went on to have seven more children! I said to George:
“God bless Father Shea. He was a real priest.
He has a high place in heaven.” I thought to myself: God
save us from the judas priests who have sold out to the worldly
powers and who dispense the wisdom of this world to couples
who find themselves both fertile and passionate. God will provide
good things to those who do His Will. For those whom He loves,
God makes all things work together for good.
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Saturday, 16 May