Is This My Final Article?

 Is This My Final Article?

After not posting anything (with the exception of updates on Mother’s and Sister’s health) for the entirety of Lent, and now that Easter Week is finally here, I have checked my Substack readership and subscription stats for the first time in months. More people read my articles when I wasn’t posting than when I was writing new articles. More people have subscribed since I stopped posting than during the same time period beforehand, when I was active here. So I have reached the scientifically valid conclusion that more people like me not writing than writing! 

I had to write this article to explain to all of those who had previously signed up because I was writing as to why I would no longer be writing. But by doing so, I will now probably lose all of you who signed up only because I wasn’t writing, for I expect that you will hit the “unsubscribe” button to show your dissatisfaction with my taking up writing once again. Or maybe you won’t unsubscribe, simply so that you can troll me. But I won’t know for sure unless I write more.

Which leaves me in a quandary. Do I then continue to write, knowing that the readership may or may not fall off? What do I do when my unpaid subscriptions fall away and I go from 357 subscribers paying nothing back down to perhaps 282, each of whom pays multiples of zero? Do I cater to those with free accounts who signed up to not read new articles, or do I try to satisfy those who have free accounts because they are interested in a slightly “off” accounting of a priest’s strange life? Can I survive without all of the extra income if I lose so many non-paid subscribers? Oh, the questions life brings! If only I were expecting to live a life of poverty or something like that, none of this would even be crossing my mind!

[Strangely enough, on Blogger, where I originally started posting, not a single new subscriber signed up while I wasn’t writing, and only 7 people read my updates on the Sisters.] 

As I try to figure out this mad conundrum about whether to write or not, please continue to pray for me and the FLM Sisters under my care, especially Mother Maria Regina, who has only a couple of more chemo treatments before starting radiation, and Sister Maria Josepha, whose recovery from the large non-cancerous brain tumor is taking a lot more time than she wishes, but is coming along quite nicely.

Oh, what the heck. As long as I am looking at statistics, maybe you would like to see some simple ones? If not, stop reading here!

The substack that has “sent” (I don’t know how that works, but that is what the stats tell me) more traffic to my account than any other source is https://restlessheartmedia.substack.com/.

But somehow, it doesn't show up on the statistical list of those whose audience overlaps the most with mine. That list gives me these six substacks: 

https://bishopmeikle.substack.com/

https://padreperegrino.substack.com/

https://www.traditionsanity.com/

https://bigmodernism.substack.com/

https://dianemontagna.substack.com/

https://meretradition.substack.com/

What does any of that mean? I think it is simply that those groups listed above must have a very discerning (or is that concerning?) group of readers!

I have subscribers in 30 states (most with only a single-digit subscription numbers and Florida having by far the most for some odd reason!) and 10 countries. Of course, for all I know, that might just be people living in the same city and state but using a VPN, throwing off the location!

The last stat I will share (because the rest make even less sense to me than those listed already) is that only 4 people filled out the “new subscriber” survey, and I think all of them did it before I discovered that I could “tweak” the questions being asked and make up my own questions and answers! (Similar to how I can tweak the “subscribe” button messages you see at the top and bottom of this article.)

That’s it for now. Maybe forever. Or maybe not. 

Merry Easter, everyone!

With prayers for your holiness,

Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who wish to ask for prayers, discern a Vocation, or make donations:

[The Sisters now have a website! https://filiae.org/]

This blog is not monetized, since the good Sisters give me food and shelter. But if you wish to support the Filiae Laboris Mariae Sisters under my spiritual care, feel free to send them a note to: St. Joseph Convent, 1250 Hackberry Road, Redfield, KS 66769. They constantly pray, and their benefactors will get great spiritual rewards! That is also the address you can send snail mail to me. I suppose you already know or can guess my gmail address with the F*****P**** in front of it!

Sister Maria Josepha is home!

 Notice from the Sisters:

Sister Maria Josepha returned home safely to us on Friday,

March 13th. Thank you for your prayers! She gets a little better

every day, but the process will take several more months. Do

not be surprised to see Sister using a walker and special chair

for now. She does not have full mobility of her face on the

right side, but the doctors are hopeful that this will be restored

over the next few months. You may see her with a cover over

her eye, as she is not able to close it. We are so grateful for your

continued prayers for our dear Sister’s full recovery!

First post surgical update for Sister Maria Josepha

 Sister's surgery was a success! Thank you for your prayers. The latest update follows.

+JMJ+ 

Dear Family and Friends, 

      Praised be Jesus and Mary! Sister Maria Josepha made it safely through surgery and is in recovery. We have not yet seen her, but were able to meet with her surgeons to hear about the surgery. They said she is doing well and that it went well. They did say it was very difficult because of the tumor's size and location, but they think they were able to remove almost, if not all of it (99 %). There was one tiny area they were not sure they got everything from, but it was on her facial nerve and they did not want to risk damaging it. But they think they preserved her facial nerve and said even in recovery she was moving her face which is a very good sign! We have yet to know if she can hear on the right side as she is still so sleepy, so keep praying for the miracle of her hearing being intact! 

       We are so deeply, deeply grateful for all of your prayers and sacrifices for Sister Maria Josepha and for all of us! Thank you for your kind messages throughout these days, and our apologies that we cannot reply to them all individually. But know that the love and support of each of you means the world to us! We will keep you updated about her recovery. We are waiting to see her tonight when she gets to the ICU. 

        Blessed be God! And thank you to our Blessed Mother for holding Sister's hand all the way through surgery! And thank you to Blessed Dom Columba Marmion for all of his powerful intercession! Thank you to the surgeons and all who cared for our dear Sister. May God bless them abundantly! 

In Corde Mariae,

Sister Joanna Marie 

      

Filiae Laboris Mariae

P.O. Box 310, Fort Scott, Kansas 66701 / www.filiae.org

Update on medical issues

 I was asked for an update on Mother’s cancer. We also have another Sister who is in need of prayers due to a hopefully non-cancerous tumor in her brain. This is the latest “official update” from the Sisters. Thank you for the prayers and concern!

+JMJ+ 

Dear Family and Friends, 

    Praised be Jesus and Mary! 

    We wanted to provide an update on Mother Maria Regina and Sister Maria Josepha. 

    Mother finished the 4th round of chemo and will start on the next chemo medication on February 16th. This treatment will be weekly for 12 weeks. The main symptoms expected are fatigue and possible neuropathy (tingling in fingers and toes). Thank you for your prayers for her as she begins this new treatment! 

     Sister Maria Josepha saw a neurosurgeon and an ENT surgeon on February 2nd. They confirmed that she will need neurosurgery to remove her tumor. This will be on Wed., March 4th. She needs to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. and the surgery will likely start around 8:00 a.m. It is a very delicate and complex surgery, and is expected to last 8-9 hours. She will then go to the ICU for at least one or two days, followed by more time on a step-down unit. They expect she will be in the hospital for about a week all told. She will need physical therapy afterward to learn to walk steadily again. 

      There are a few specific things we are praying for: 

1) That they can remove the whole tumor in one surgery. Because it is so large and in a difficult location, they said it is possible that she will need a second surgery to remove all of it. 

2) That her hearing is saved on the right side. The doctors expect she will lose her hearing completely on that side because they will probably need to cut the auditory nerve. They both said it would be "miraculous" if she could hear on that side after surgery. That is just what Blessed Columba Marmion's intercession can do, so we are praying for that miracle! 

3) That her facial nerve will not be damaged. This is a risk of the surgery. Facial nerve damage could lead to paralysis/drooping on that side of her face. Sometimes this is temporary, sometimes it is permanent. We are praying she will not have any damage! 

        Sister Maria Josepha is an inspiration to us all. She sees this tumor as coming from God's Providence, meant to bring about some greater good for herself and for the souls of others. She is very much at peace. She is also very interested in medical things, and enjoyed showing all of us the impressive MRI images of her tumor during recreation! :) So while this is a challenge in many ways, we are so grateful to see so much fruit in our community as we draw closer together in caring for each other--blessed be God in all His gifts! Please keep praying for us, and know of our prayers and sacrifices for all of you! 

In Corde Mariae,

Sister Joanna Marie of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, F.L.M. 

(Infirmarian) 

        

Filiae Laboris Mariae

P.O. Box 310, Fort Scott, Kansas 66701 / http://www.filiae.org/

What's with the still-lingering snow? Christ's Love burns more strongly across the field!

 Here are two photos taken seconds apart. What’s with the snow in front of my cabin but not in front of any of the Sisters’ cabins? Is my heart really that cold that it keeps the snow from melting outside my cell? Pray that the Sisters’ love of Jesus inflames my heart one day, too!

By the way, before Mass this morning one of the Sisters asked what the temperature was today. 

Me:  It's 30 now, and getting up to 56 degrees this afternoon, I said, checking the weather app on my phone. 

Sister:  Oh, great! It's going to be really warm! What's the weather like back in Tampa?

Me:  It's only 50 degrees there right now and only getting up to 56. I'll bet they're freezing!

Temperature is relative. It all depends on what State you are in!

Is Winter Really Over?

 Is Winter Really Over?

Last Friday morning, I sat at my desk answering emails and writing letters, all while watching the birds have a field day (get it?), picking at something—whether seeds or bugs, I know not—at every little patch of newly re-exposed grass/weed outside. They were so very intent on eating whatever it was that they kept chasing each other off the little patches to scrounge for food themselves. It was quite comical.

In the afternoon, I put on my muck boots and tramped through the snow to place the newly-written letters in the mailbox. Time for another rosary, if you’ve been following my journey. But this time, I interrupted myself and decided to take some photos of the animal tracks along the way. The last time I went out, there were many deer tracks. This time, the rabbits had been out playing, too. 

First, a snow angel made by one of our angels.

There are a couple of 6 inch drain pipes running under the driveway. On either side of this one, there were plenty of tracks leading up to, into, and out of it!

Some various deer, rabbit, bird, and mouse tracks, although many of them were not too fresh, and the blowing wind had taken away their sharpness.

Later that afternoon, the snow started once again. This time, the snowflakes were large. It was quite a beautiful sight, seeing them swirl and dance in the wind. I tried to take a video of it, but the camera just didn’t pick it up the way the human eye does. The light, graceful swoops and pirouettes of the flakes went on for several hours, but without dropping enough snow on the ground to even see a difference from what was already there. But by the next morning, the accumulation of snow was enough to see that Jack Frost had dusted the whole place once again.

The temperatures remained below freezing, but, with the sun shining down, some places, like awnings and rooftops, started melting the snow. Icicles formed where the freezing air temperatures caught the meltwater before it could fall to the ground.

Once it got back up to nearly 20 degrees with winds only about 10 MPH, the goats came back out!

And then, Sunday night the temperatures only dropped down to 16 degrees and, with a full day of sunshine on Monday, we reached 48 degrees! Here is a shot of the chapel parking lot about noon on Monday, as, for the first time in weeks, the gravel started to be exposed!

By Tuesday at noon, this is how it looked!

It was at this time that I decided to walk to the mailbox once again. This time, since it was so darn hot, I was back to wearing sandals with no socks. But I had to turn around while still in the parking lot and go put on my jacket and hat, for the temperature today (Tuesday) was only about 35, and I had been a little too eager to be done with winter! What I found along the way was what happens to all the melting snow. Mud. Kansas mud is as slippery as ice and it doesn’t wash off easily once it gets on shoes, clothes, floors, etc.

Further along the drive, the snow hadn’t melted all the way, so I had to walk through the icy slush, which was preferable to the mudpuddles. The photo below doesn’t show just how treacherous the driveway was that walking in the mostly frozen stuff was the preferable alternative! And, no, those are not my footprints off to the side. Somebody else had already taken this path and showed me the way to safely traverse the danger zone! But I walked in the brownish sludge, which was not so deep.

Finally, I leave you with photos of the last little bit of remaining snow near this cabin. From a normal distance it looks like soap foam, as if someone had put dishwashing liquid in the dishwasher (as a visiting priest once did, so I know what a 6 inch tall wall of foam looks like as it covers the kitchen and gets pushed out the door!). But from up close, from down low, it looks more like our own private glacier retreating from the massive boulders it carried with it over the eons and miles.

With prayers for your holiness,

Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka

The Storm! Pre-emptive strike?

I’ve put off writing this, waiting to see if the people of Greenland just managed to avert a war or if they recklessly started one with the USA. But nobody seems to understand what is happening, so war or no war, the article must be drafted.

You don’t know what I am writing about, do you? I didn’t think so. You have probably been brainwashed by the mainstream media into thinking that this Winter Storm of the Century, nay, the Winter Storm to End All Storms, was just the result of StraightWhiteMan-made Global Warming. But put your tinfoil hats upon your heads and get ready, for I am going to reveal the true source and purpose of The Storm.

Greenland, seeing that the Supreme Master of All Things was huffing and puffing about taking them over by hook or by crook, decided to throw the first, preemptive punch. They threw down the gauntlet, sent us a small dose of their “normal” weather, and challenged us to experience just what life in Greenland can be like in the summer! “You want some of this?” they shouted across Canada toward the formerly United States. “We've got more where that came from!”

I was waiting to see if our Commandant-in-Chief would pull out our weather-control machines (that we don’t officially have) and blast Greenland with a little Florida Winter weather (It was 69 degrees this morning at Mom’s house, when it was -5 degrees here in Kansas after The Storm had passed) and reply via Truth?Social, “WEEL (sic) MELT ALL OF YOUR ILAND (sic) IF YOU DON’T SURRENDER! YOUR (sic) ALL WASHED UP, BOOGERFACE!” or something equally Presidential.

Alas, nothing has come of it. The war didn’t get called off, nor did it yet start in earnest. Maybe by the time The Storm makes it across to (Needsagood)Wash-ington DC, something more will happen, but as of right now, the hysterics of Conservative-caused Climate Change still rule the news reports.

So how are you spending your last days on Earth (if the forecasts are correct, that is)? As for me, on Saturday, as The Storm continued to rage on outside, I spent most of my “free time” sitting at my desk writing letters. As I pondered the perfect words to put on paper (yes, I was using actual note cards and ink), I was gazing out the window, watching the snow as it blew in sideways. It was similar in that regard to the rain coming down during a hurricane, but this was frozen stuff and looked a whole lot prettier. And colder.

The outdoor temperature that morning, shortly before the Mass, was 3 degrees, and it only rose to 6 degrees for a few minutes about 4 pm. The weather app also showed it being a 15 degrees below zero “feel like” temperature. Of course, that’s balmy for good ol’ Greenland, USA.

My window overlooks the “far side” of the long goat, chicken, and duck enclosure. The chickens never make it to this side. I have seen the ducks waddle this way only once, but the goats come running over, looking for a handout whenever anyone walks near the fence. But not today. They were all huddled inside their shelters, letting the Greenland war’s warning shot pass them by.

But the frigid weather didn’t stop the wild birds from flying all over the place. How in the world do they keep from freezing? I was sitting fully clothed inside a heated building, and I was still shivering. But the tiny birds darted to and fro, seemingly, at least, without a concern of turning into feathered balls of ice. The squirrels, too, seemed undaunted as they hopped across the white field and scurried up and down the trees.

As for me, I actually put on a thermal undershirt under my cassock and wore (gasp!) wool socks with my sandals. Coincidentally, I had just received a care package/Christmas present with three new pairs, so even if the Sisters get backed up with laundry (they pamper me, even doing my laundry!) I will have toasty, or at least not so frozen, little piggys!

When I finally got done with the last letter I would write that day, it was time to hoof it down to the mailbox. The last snow day, I tried doing that in sandals and without socks. I regretted it enough that as soon as the snow melted, I drove down to Walmart and picked up a pair of rubber muck boots, the only boots they had that even came close to fitting. So I put my wool-stockinged feet into the boots, pulled on my coat, pulled a “turtle fur” cap down over my ears, and set out, mail in my gloved left hand and rosary in my right.

These waterproof boots, meant for working around the horse stalls and doing other farm chores, were certainly not the most comfortable footwear I have ever worn. Nor did they have any insulation other than the thick rubber soles at the bottom, and thick, unlined rubber making up the rest of the boot. But what an improvement from sandals when walking through an inch or so of snow! The grip was incredible, and I didn’t slip on the frozen gravel even a single time. Of course, on my return, I had to use a screwdriver to pry the gravel out of the treads, but that was a small price to pay to stay upright!

It takes about two decades and a few Hail Mary’s into the third Mystery to get to the mailbox. The wind was blowing about 15 MPH at the cabin. But as soon as I passed the chapel, the wind was blowing across a large, open field, and, with nothing to hinder it, was at gale force until I could reach the tree line. I had to brace myself against it as it pelted me with light, wispy snowflakes and intense cold. As I exited the parking lot and started walking on the drive, I noticed a set of boot tracks that looked a lot like my tread pattern, except smaller. Somebody else was somewhere in front of me, and there were no return tracks. Sure enough, around the bend near the road, one of the Sisters was on her return trip. I don’t know which one, since (this is no joke) they all look alike in their habits, plus, she was bundled up from top to bottom, including a scarf that completely covered every bit of her face except her eyeballs. We didn’t stop and chat since we were both praying and fighting the cold, blowing wind.

Later, somebody came and shoveled a path from my back chapel entrance to the door of my cell, including scraping the snow off the gravel path! Then, in the evening, one of the Sisters shoveled off my front stoop and stairs again so that I didn’t have to trudge through fresh snow for Compline. As I said, they pamper me!

Sunday morning, the fresh snow that had fallen overnight was three inches deep on that same front stoop/porch, but somebody had already shoveled a path through it before I had to walk through the second day of 3-degree weather on my way to the chapel for 4:30 am prayers.

Sunday Mass attendance was down quite a bit, as most people couldn’t make it through the unplowed rural roads. The wind was down to a gentle (for Kansas) breeze, 10 MPH, and there was no more snowfall. I walked through it to make a few measurements. I saw between 5 and 7 inches of snow away from the buildings. It really is beautiful. But I am glad to be indoors most of the time.

This morning, Monday, the temperature at Mass time was 5 degrees below zero. For the first time since I have been here, none of the locals showed up for Mass. This afternoon, as I finish this up, the temperatures have risen from all the way to 15 degrees! The goats, ducks, and chickens are still nowhere to be seen, and I can’t say I blame them for staying inside!

That’s about it for now. Stay holy and stay warm.

With prayers for your holiness,

Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka