My New Avatar

[metis]

My new avatar has a very special meaning for me, not so much for my general admiration for Thomas More, a man who did have some quite serious faults, but for the church named after him in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that played such a role in my return to the Catholic Church last summer. Here's briefly what happened.

In 1964, as a sophomore in college, I met and ended up dating a woman for 5 months who literally changed my life, and I've talked about her before here at RF. She was a very devout Catholic and attended that church, so I went with her for several masses and was quite impressed as it was not like I was taught by the non-Catholic church I grew up in. I was so interested that I took two courses in Catholic theology, which I thought at them time I would never use as I had no intention of ever converting. Was I wrong, and on both counts.

We got back together two years later, but I had another love, and I got carried away one night with the latter, "biology" took over, and ... . I then had to make a decision which way to go and whether I could leave the first woman as I knew that would be very tough for me to do. I tried to figure out a way I could enhance this decision, and as it turned out, the movie "A Man For All Seasons" was showing, which is about St.Thomas More and why he was eventually executed by Henry VIII. During the movie, as I held my girlfriend's hand, I realized about half way through the movie that I just had to go with the other woman in my life as I loved her just as much, and we got married, and she's been the positively best wife I could have ever imagined.

Over 50 years later, in the spring of 2018, I kept on getting this strong impulse to visit St. Thomas More parish, but I had no clue why I kept having this impulse and what this all meant. Finally I told my wife, and she agreed that I should go and travel the 2+ hours to get there to clarify this. I had no idea what to expect out of this as I got ready to go through the mass, still as a non-Catholic, and I didn't want to just sit in the pew and dwell on my old girlfriend that I still have feelings for because she literally did change my life. She's so much like my wife spiritually and personality-wise. Much to my surprise and relief, that didn't happen, and I was quite relaxed but yet still confused as to why I appeared that I was being sent by the Boss here, which I firmly believed because of numerous other things that were happening that I've described here due to a long series of "events".

When we got to the Lord's Prayer at that mass, which I decided to pray for the first time in over 20 years, everything began to fall into place, and at the end of the mass I just sat there because I realized that I was being "called" back to the Church and that this is where I need to be and where I can do the most good. However, I didn't tell my wife this as I want to contemplate this for a while. Finally, and without her knowing it, several months later I snuck off to see the priest, explained to him what had happened, and he welcomed me back into the Church. I still didn't tell my wife about our decision as we went to mass one Sunday last September, and when it came time for the Eucharist, I stood up and got in line behind her, and she said in panic-mode that I couldn't take communion, but I just smiled and took it. When we got back to our seats, she looked at me, and it suddenly downed on her what I had done, and she smiled with tears in her eyes.

So, now you know why I have chosen St. Thomas More as my new avatar, and why that name has meant so much to me going even all the way back over 50 years ago.

Take care

 

[Estro Felino]

 

[metis]

Did you see the movie by chance?

The funny thing with this is that I sorta missed the first half of the movie as I was trying to figure out what to do with my situation, but I did remember the second half. Several months ago I bought the DVD and watched it in its entirety. Really good, imo.

BTW, both of the women I mentioned were and are Italian, and my old girlfriend's family is from an area near Rome. One of her uncles was Mario Lanza, and she was very proud being an Italiana, as is my wife. I love 'em both, and I loved being in Italia.

 

[Estro Felino]

Did you see the movie by chance?

No...that clip is from TV miniseries The Tudors

 

[metis]

No...that clip is from TV miniseries The Tudors

Which explains why I didn't recognize the face.

BTW, do you mind mentioning which area of Italia you live in? If you don't want to put that our here, maybe p.m. me?

 

[metis]

BTW, I very often associate different songs with earlier events in my life, and two songs especially relates to my first girlfriend, who was like no other person I had ever met before as she was so loving and compassionate. The first song came out right after she dropped me, and when I heard this song I have to admit I just cried. It was by the "Association", and it's entitled "Cherish", which is about a guy who is madly in love with a woman but knows he can't have her. Here's that song:

But, as I stated previously, we got together in our senior year, whereas I treated her much more like a woman that just as a "saint", and even though we were together for only around a month, our relationship got very heated very fast. Fortunately, we didn't go "all the way", but unfortunately I had to drop her this time. That was he single most depressing conversation in all my 74 years as I hurt the woman who changed my life, and this song that came out much later brings me to tears every time I hear it because of this. It's entitled "Time To Say Goodbye" by Bocelli and Brightman, and it involves a man who must permanently leave his love because he's going somewhere else:

 

[Revoltingest]

I knew that name was familiar.
A local boy, Tom Monaghan, started this....
Thomas More Law Center - Wikipedia
Excerpted...
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) is a Christian, conservative, nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and active throughout the United States.[3] According to its website, its goals are to "preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage, defend the religious freedom of Christians, restore time-honored moral and family values, protect the sanctity of human life, and promote a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America."[4][5]

The Thomas More Law Center is active in social issues such as opposing same-sex marriage,[6] abortion,[7] and provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act[8] and the HHS Mandate.[9] The Law Center has been involved, often unsuccessfully, in high-profile cases including the litigation of the Dover, Pennsylvania intelligent design case,[10] the defense of Lt Col Jeffrey Chessani against misconduct allegations stemming from the November 2005 Haditha incident,[11] and the Law Center's federal lawsuit against the US Government regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Individual Mandate.[8] The Law Center also litigates cases related to the defense of Christians and anti-abortion activists,[12] and has successfully defended the use of dark money in American elections.[13]

 

[David1967]

My new avatar has a very special meaning for me, not so much for my general admiration for Thomas More, a man who did have some quite serious faults, but for the church named after him in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that played such a role in my return to the Catholic Church last summer. Here's briefly what happened.

In 1964, as a sophomore in college, I met and ended up dating a woman for 5 months who literally changed my life, and I've talked about her before here at RF. She was a very devout Catholic and attended that church, so I went with her for several masses and was quite impressed as it was not like I was taught by the non-Catholic church I grew up in. I was so interested that I took two courses in Catholic theology, which I thought at them time I would never use as I had no intention of ever converting. Was I wrong, and on both counts.

We got back together two years later, but I had another love, and I got carried away one night with the latter, "biology" took over, and ... . I then had to make a decision which way to go and whether I could leave the first woman as I knew that would be very tough for me to do. I tried to figure out a way I could enhance this decision, and as it turned out, the movie "A Man For All Seasons" was showing, which is about St.Thomas More and why he was eventually executed by Henry VIII. During the movie, as I held my girlfriend's hand, I realized about half way through the movie that I just had to go with the other woman in my life as I loved her just as much, and we got married, and she's been the positively best wife I could have ever imagined.

Over 50 years later, in the spring of 2018, I kept on getting this strong impulse to visit St. Thomas More parish, but I had no clue why I kept having this impulse and what this all meant. Finally I told my wife, and she agreed that I should go and travel the 2+ hours to get there to clarify this. I had no idea what to expect out of this as I got ready to go through the mass, still as a non-Catholic, and I didn't want to just sit in the pew and dwell on my old girlfriend that I still have feelings for because she literally did change my life. She's so much like my wife spiritually and personality-wise. Much to my surprise and relief, that didn't happen, and I was quite relaxed but yet still confused as to why I appeared that I was being sent by the Boss here, which I firmly believed because of numerous other things that were happening that I've described here due to a long series of "events".

When we got to the Lord's Prayer at that mass, which I decided to pray for the first time in over 20 years, everything began to fall into place, and at the end of the mass I just sat there because I realized that I was being "called" back to the Church and that this is where I need to be and where I can do the most good. However, I didn't tell my wife this as I want to contemplate this for a while. Finally, and without her knowing it, several months later I snuck off to see the priest, explained to him what had happened, and he welcomed me back into the Church. I still didn't tell my wife about our decision as we went to mass one Sunday last September, and when it came time for the Eucharist, I stood up and got in line behind her, and she said in panic-mode that I couldn't take communion, but I just smiled and took it. When we got back to our seats, she looked at me, and it suddenly downed on her what I had done, and she smiled with tears in her eyes.

So, now you know why I have chosen St. Thomas More as my new avatar, and why that name has meant so much to me going even all the way back over 50 years ago.

Take care

Very nice. Thanks for sharing @metis.

 

[sun rise]

@metis your story reminded me of a song from many years ago that I still enjoy from a group "New Troubadors"

CHANGE CAN COME (Words and Music by Lark Batteau)

Change can come in the twinkling of an eye,
In the ripple upon a lake.
Change can come in the color of a flower,
In the sparkle of morning dew,
When the Light catches you.
In that tiny moment, you are transformed.

And the radiance of Christ
Shines forth in reply
From within, and has made itself known,
And from the two is born
A new world.

Come, let us join
Our many golden flickering
And create one Light,
Together,
Forever.

 

[BSM1]

I follow a lesser known clergyman of the time. This man could never by pinned down to a certainty when it came to his belief. You may have heard of him, Thomas Moreorless, hahaha...(I do humbly apologize...I couldn't help myself).

 

[metis]

@metis your story reminded me of a song from many years ago that I still enjoy from a group "New Troubadors"

CHANGE CAN COME (Words and Music by Lark Batteau)

Change can come in the twinkling of an eye,
In the ripple upon a lake.
Change can come in the color of a flower,
In the sparkle of morning dew,
When the Light catches you.
In that tiny moment, you are transformed.

And the radiance of Christ
Shines forth in reply
From within, and has made itself known,
And from the two is born
A new world.

Come, let us join
Our many golden flickering
And create one Light,
Together,
Forever.

I'll try and see if I can find that on YouTube. Thanks!

 

[sun rise]

I'll try and see if I can find that on YouTube. Thanks!

I could not but there are 2/3 on youtube. But you can get an entire album The New Troubadours - it's one of my favorites.

 

[metis]

I changed my avatar again, which is not unusual for me, btw. Matter of fact, the Motown avatar I had for a couple of years was the longest one by far that I kept unchanged for any great length of time.

My new avatar is a stained-glass mosaic that was on the wall of the first Catholic Church (St. Thomas More Student Parish) I ever had gone to, and I went there with an old girlfriend back in 1964 when I was doing my undergrad studies at Western Michigan University. I had grown disenchanted with my fundamentalist Protestant church and had stopped attending services there because of their anti-science stance. The Catholic mass, otoh, I found very interesting and especially very touching, and in a meditative and meaningful way. However, I didn't convert to Catholicism until a dozen years later. Even though the church has expanded and was modernized, they fortunately kept the old mosaic.

Anyhow, the dove represents two things to me that a VERY important, namely my sincere feeling that we desperately need to seek peace, especially in this day and age, and that I do believe the Holy Spirit led me back to where I belong after being gone for over 20 years. I love being active in things, and I'm already involved with numerous activities there even though I converted back to the Church last summer.

Anyhow, I hope each of you here in the States have a most pleasant Labor Day weekend. As a long-time union guy, I appreciate what the labor movement did for us and for this country.

Take care.