Good Morning Digital Neighbors & ADD Irregulars! Things keep changing in the world of Tommy-land! It looks like I may be going home for rehab instead of the 5th floor of this hospital. While that is an exciting prospect it raises all kinds of questions and concerns.
My hope is that rehab will help navigate the ordinary movements of life. Nothing will be quick for me anymore, this will be the biggest change I have faced in my life. I am used to being able to move about freely and without thought. I am now dependent. It is going to be difficult to adjust to that reality and I pray I can handle it with the prayer, poise and humor that is at the forefront of my desires. Temptations to frustrations, the aggravations I will encounter in the dance between wanting to be prudent about my movements without being hostage to my fears.
Hostage to my fears - that is something I want to avoid at all cost but not do so recklessly and setback my healing. The primary goal is healing and a return to mobility. The next goal is to discern and determine how much normalcy I can regain during the 6 weeks I get to walk among you as Frankenstein. I'm not joking, there is zero movement in the knee braces. Once on my feet I can navigate the walker fairly well, but sitting is a real challenge and sitting in lower chair or surfaces out of the question. Time will tell how it all goes, patience, acceptance and gratitude are what I hope to find more in these next 6 weeks.
I have to be more intentional about bathroom issues and much more careful about transitions from laying or sitting to standing. I can't spend the entire day standing, so figuring out what works best for me will be part of the discernment in my transition to home. One day at a time. I hope to be back at Mass soon as possible. I miss celebrating the Eucharist and being at prayer with the family I love. Being united in prayer and praise is the greatest way to spend our time together. Sunday is the peak and weekday Masses are the bonus expressions of this great mystery that tries to open the veil to the deeper meaning of sacrifice, suffering, redemption, resurrection and ascension into glory. All of that is capped off in gratitude and praise in communion with God and neighbor.
Continued prayers are appreciated. They have meant so much to me over these last four days and have lifted my attitude and perspective in the way I most desired. I never want to be Pollyannaish in my outlook, but positivity sure beats being a crab, whiner or worrywart. Love you all so much.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
