The Final Countdown

Yesterday was an incredible day.  There's nothing like the Holy Trinity to fight off a funk!  I had the great privilege of attending Fr. Richard Morrow's Mass of Thanksgiving for 60 years of ordained ministry, celebrated at Christ the King in Buckhead.   He is such a bastion of joy and hope, and a solid example of priestly fidelity and service.  Not many men live to see their 60th anniversary of anything, but there was a priest of Jesus Christ, celebrating the grace of God active in his life and through his ministry for 6 decades.

I also took the opportunity to get to confession.  Priests need confession, btw, just as much as any Christian.  God provided that Msgr. Lopez would process out of the Mass right in front of me, so I took that a sign that he was the one I should ask, and it was completely the right decision.

Fr. Lopez has a way of getting right to the heart of the matter in the confessional.  I imagine it's because of his 40+ years of priesthood.  He gets it, he knows the human soul and he knows both the ways that the enemy tries to trip us up and the ways that the Holy Spirit is calling us back to the Heart of the Savior and the love of the Father.  Thank you Lord for the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation!

Also got a good short ride in yesterday, and it was the first time I've ever used "clipless pedals," which, I feel I need to add, seem to be somewhat of a misnomer, even though I know the historical development foot-fastening functionality.  "Clipless pedals" actually have you "clip in" to a bracket on the pedal via a cleat on the bottom of special cycling shoes.  They are called "clipless" because, in the old days, there was actually a big clip that one's whole front of the foot would "clip" into.  Think of a cage that you slip your foot into and you'll get the idea.  Any pedal that lacks this cage clip thing is called "clipless"...even though all pro cyclists (and now novices like myself) "clip" into these newfangled brackets.  The benefit, so I'm learning, is that you can take advantage of various pedaling techniques, employing different muscles to make your efforts more efficient.

I think dad was impressed by how quickly I picked up the rather awkward movements of clipping in and unclipping.  So I think I'm going to keep taking smallish rides each day this week to stay loose and get all the more used to these things.  Practical wisdom advices that a cyclist not change anything drastic in the week leading up to a major event.  We'll see how this goes.