Moving is better than not moving.
I happened to be listening to a doctor on the radio talking about health, diabetes and weight gain. (Three topics I need to hear about.) He mentioned that they did a study that showed that taking a short walk (5 minutes) after you ate a meal helps metabolize your food and keeps your blood sugar at suitable levels. He mentioned that you need to do this no matter if you have joint pain (another vital topic) or any other health issues. You don’t need to run a marathon nor register in a triathlon. You just need to move somewhat. And then he said this line which stuck with me for a long time:
Moving is better than not moving.
Things with brains move. Consider the tale of a distant cousin of humans, a sea squirt called the tunicate. The tunicate is born with a small brain, called a cerebral ganglion, complete with an eyespot for sensing light, and an otolith, a primitive organ which senses gravity and permits the tunicate to orient itself horizontally or vertically. In its larval stage the tunicate swims freely about the sea searching for rich feeding grounds. When it finds a promising spot it cements itself, headfirst, to the sea floor. It then proceeds to ingest its brain, using the nutrients to build its siphons and tuniclike body. Swaying gently in the ocean currents, filtering nutrients from passing water, the tunicate lives out its days without the need or burden of a brain. Ah, what a life!
I don’t know about you, but I kinda like my brain and I want to keep it. So that is why I move and I try to do it every day. Your physical health depends on you moving around. The crazy thing about this is that it doesn’t need to be strenuous. You don’t have to climb Everest or K2. You don’t have to swim the English Channel. Going out for a nice walk is just fine. It gets your blood pumping, it clears your mind, it is good for your soul.
Moving is better than not moving.
My spirituality always connects body, mind and spirit. What is good for our physical life is also appropriate for our spiritual lives. I am not the same priest I was when I first was ordained, and that is a good thing. I believe I’ve grown. I am more pastoral. I am more compassionate. But I also am a bit more blunt and candid. And although those things seem to be in conflict, truth and love, still go together.
If I were the same priest I was back in 1983, I might just end up like the tunicate, stuck swaying in the drift.
Moving is better than not moving.
Which brings us to All Things New. By the time this article is read, I will have a better idea as to the scope and depth of the changes which our Archdiocese will encounter. (We will have the preliminary report, not the final one. Don’t ask, you will find out in time.) I will admit that the whole process is scary, daunting and exhausting. I have considered that so many places that I have given of myself might not make the cut. Several of them already have bit the dust. “Here’s looking at you St. Sebastian’s and Aquinas-Mercy!” It is maddening thinking about what may or may not happen. Nevertheless, however painful all this might be, the alternate is even worse, because:
Moving is better than not moving.
We need to plan ahead. We need to make the tough calls. We need to see that some places have outlasted their relevancy and need. We need to move, because that’s what things with brains do.
Every single time I have made a big move in my life it was uncomfortable, intimidating and more than just a bit overwhelming. I felt strange because I was not only coaxed out of my comfort zones, I was often shoved out of my comfort zones, unceremoniously. And yet, as I look back at those events, I see that those were the precise moments when I grew the most, where I made quantum leaps in maturity. They were the times I felt most alive. And almost always, I ended up in a better place than I was before.
That’s what I hope happens to our parish as well as the entire Archdiocese. We may enter this process kicking and screaming, but (if we allow it) we will end this tumultuous time stronger, better, wiser and, dare I say it, Holier. We are not sea squirts, we are full-fledged human beings, making our way to the heavenly realms. After all:
Moving is better than not moving.
Father Kevin