Falls of the Ohio River

Today I bicycled across the Ohio River to Indiana where the Falls of the Ohio national park is located.

The statue is of Meriwether Lewis (R) and William Clark, the commanders of the Lewis and Clark expedition that set out in 1803 from what became Louisville to explore the American West between Kentucky and the Pacific Ocean. Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, sent them out.
Riverboats coming down the Ohio from the new northeastern American colonies could only travel as far south as the falls of the Ohio River, not a dramatic waterfall but a drop of about twenty-five feet over these now exposed shoals loaded with fossil remains. Today Lock and Dam 41 enables river traffic to be routed around the falls. The concrete wall in the rear creates a channel by the island in the background which provides access to the locks. Lewis and Clark left here in 1803 and returned in 1806 after an epic journey.

Notable Quote

In the coming Sunday gospel, Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow him.

What would the life Jesus is offering, with its cross, look like now, in this world? It would mean becoming compassionate people, having integrity and strength in our relationships, and being courageous as we speak and act on behalf of the least among us.

What a paradox! We find our true life not by clinging desperately to ourselves, but by giving ourselves away in love.

Fr. Jude Siciliano, OP — Preacher Exchange

Fratelli Tutti

We forget that “there is no worse form of alienation than to feel uprooted, belonging to no one. A land will be fruitful, and its people bear fruit and give birth to the future, only to the extent that it can foster a sense of belonging among its members, create bonds of integration between generations and different communities, and avoid all that makes us insensitive to others and leads to further alienation”.

Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, #53

UP is not working!

Two weekends ago, a big thunderstorm passed over us and a lightning strike fried three of the four electronic control panels for the elevator in Cedar Hall, the independent living section of Nazareth Home Clifton. It has been a bit harrowing for the second floor residents who are ambulatory but don’t feel safe on the stairs. They are getting cabin fever after being limited to their second floor where food has to be brought up to them. The elevator company initially said the panels would not be repaired until after Labor Day but a tech showed up with them today and started installing them. He has to come back tomorrow but we hope he can finish the job then.

Notable Quotes

In that community [of Jesus], there are no second-class citizens. We had to learn that idea concerning people of color and concerning women. And now, the time has come to face the same gospel reality about LGBTQ persons as others who are welcomed as first-class citizens in the community of faithfulness and justice.  We learn that the other is not an unacceptable danger and that the other is not required to give up “otherness” in order to belong fully to the community. We in the community of faith, as in the Old and New Testaments, are always called to respond to the other as a neighbor who belongs with “us,” even as “we” belong with and for the “other.”

Walter Brueggemann, theologian

Here and There, Then and Now

After 42 years in Asia, I returned home to Kentucky. But it isn’t the home I left. Things I saw THEN are different NOW. Life HERE is different from life THERE. Here is another sample of the differences.

THERE

In Cambodia certainly but also in Hong Kong, backpacks were a basic element of daily life. Using all the available public transportation (ferries, trams, subways, taxis, buses) required some sort of container for carrying raincoats, umbrellas, books, notes, water, etc.) and so everyone carried a backpack when on the street.

HERE

In the U.S., backpacks are often useful but not required like in Cambodia. Here, when traveling somewhere, people just dump anything they are carrying on the front seat of the car they are driving. It’s easy and simple and convenient.

But riding a bicycle here is like Cambodia deja vu. Some sort of carrier is needed for the items I want to take with me. I have panniers that mount on the rear wheel and they’re very useful, but I don’t attach them unless I know I’m going to use them because when I arrive at my destination they are easily stolen if I don’t take them inside but they’re bulky and awkward.


So I got a couple carabiners to attach my backpack to my rear wheel mount when I’m on the road. I can wear the backpack when it’s cooler but now in the heat it’s hot and sweaty. With the carabiners I can just clip and unclip the backpack relatively easily.