Scattershooting...

A few random thoughts as the week begins...

1. Our prayers go out to Matt Hicks, the Herald's unofficial Olympic gymnast trainee and a parishioner at St. Mary's Cathedral. He had a crucial qualifying meet on Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and placements for the Olympic Trials meet would be decided there. On his fourth event, the vault, Matt tweaked his left knee on the landing and limped off to a training table in a corner of the gym. Needing to finish all six events in order to have a chance to qualify, Matt iced his knee and gave the parallel bars a go. A solid routine ended with Matt crumpling to the mat while trying to stick his landing. I was inspired and deeply moved to see Matt ice his knee again and try to perform his final event, the high bar. I could barely watch knowing that he would eventually have to dismount and land on that leg again, this time with much more force than from the parallel bars. After another excellent routine, he dismounted, his leg immediately gave out and he curled in pain as a wheelchair was quickly whisked to the mat. When the final standings were calculated, Matt missed out on a spot at the Olympic trials by two places. It was a crushing blow to a good guy who has spent the last few years trying to get into the Olympics. Matt found out his ACL is torn and he is embarking on a long road of recovery, as well as having to decide whether to start over and try for the 2012 Summer Games. He recovered from a broken back when he was younger (Jim Myers wrote about this and how it led to a major conversion of faith), so Matt is a fighter. Please keep him in your prayers (he has a devotion to St. Padre Pio, so perhaps pray for his intercession).

2. I was intrigued by the "bread and wine" layout on the baptismal font at St. Mary's Cathedral Sunday night. On the right was a loaf of bread and on the left was a plate of grapes with a bottle of wine in the middle. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but I did pause when I saw the brand of wine... uh, Boone's Farm?

3. Speaking of the cathedral, it hosted the Diaconate Call to Candidacy during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Sheridan on Saturday. It was moving to see the candidates stand up, one by one with their wives, and declare their presence at this special Mass. The diaconate is a special calling and these men have to fit in a ton of studies and service with their jobs and family life during their preparation.

4. It's less than three months until World Youth Day in Sydney. Although I shared my concerns about a potentially politically correct, blah papal liturgy, I should add that I really am excited about attending this. The organizers have done a wonderful job regularly contacting pilgrims with news updates and Scriptural reflections as part of the preparation. And it is awesome to know that, as of last count, the Diocese of Colorado Springs will be represented by 77 pilgrims. That's pretty amazing considering how expensive it is to get to Sydney (the diocese's pilgrim package is around $4,000, and that's among the cheaper ones out there). To top it off, they are selling neat WYD sleeping bags (red with a big gold cross and a WYD quote from Scripture) that should make for quite a photo when they hold the big campout the night before the closing Mass.

5. Happy birthday to our graphic designer, Dave Kottler, who hit the big 5-0 Saturday. It really hit home late in the evening when we realized that he now fits the demographic for our 50-Plus special section (which runs in our next issue). A day later, it has me rethinking the editorial content for that section, too, since now I am wondering if Dave would do whatever the articles are suggesting. If you have any ideas for fun stories that we can do for our 50-Plus section, please let us know. What do you like to do in your free time? Where do you like to travel? Are you more, less or as active as when you were younger?