Fr. Sibley's fourth ordination anniversary is July 15. Ad multos annos, Padre!
Weezie Jefferson, known in her earthly life as Isabel Sanford, has passed on to the real dee-luxe apartment in the sky. Please listen to the theme from "The Jeffersons" in her honor.
Christopher starts bawling at 5:48 this morning. Paige thinks she can give him a bottle to make him go back to sleep; that works for a few minutes, but then he starts sounding borderline hysterical. So at 6:18, I get on my clothes, slip into my slippers, and rescue the baby from his crib.
I love the little guy dearly, but he's at a very awkward age (17 months). He's very mobile and strong, but he gets frustrated because he only knows about eight words and can't tell us what he wants. Also, he doesn't watch television, and that's not helpful. For all you Catholic super-parents out there who turn up your nose at the very thought of "using TV as a babysitter," even for a few minutes a day, that's great -- now back in your hole.
Sorry, that sounded a little grumpy. Christopher's older siblings can play by themselves or watch TV while I make breakfast. They are happy, I get to make the food in peace. Everybody wins. But the little guy can't entertain himself at all. He plays with a toy for a few minutes, and then staggers over to me and starts pulling on my shorts, begging to be picked up. We have done this for many mornings, ever since he started waking up before 6 a.m.
Bill Schilling was a parishoner at St. John's Parish in McLean, VA . He founded a scholarship in the name of his late wife for seminarians from the parish, giving them sorely needed money each semester to pay for essentials. He also funded a Catholic orphanage and school for victims of the AIDS virus in Kenya. He continued to support the seminarians and the orphanage in his will. He left a substantial amount of money to the Diocese of Arlington as well.
I visited him some weeks ago as his health began to fail. He told me about how he and his wife had saved their whole life to buy a house. As the years went on decided not to buy a home of their own. Rather, they stayed in the same modest apartment for decades. They never had children of their own, but their life's work would go to support their spiritual children in Africa and the good work of the Arlington Diocese. He said missed his wife very much and was ready to see her again. She passed away in 1999. He sat wrapped in the blanket that kept her warm in her last days. As we spoke I thought of a story I once heard about Father Wilfrid Faber. Seemingly on his death bed, surrounded by family and friends, Father Faber got better. Bill passed away this morning from liver cancer. He didn't get better, he got the best. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 115:15
May he rest in peace.
