On June 27 and 28, we had very bad air days in Northwest Indiana due to the forest fires in Canada. I have asthma and the smoke in the air made me feel congested and uncomfortable, especially last Tuesday, where my fascination with the arrival of the smoke eventually evolved to a concern for its impact on those respiratory illnesses, including myself.

The good news is the smoke did begin to clear late Wednesday and we returned to a somewhat normal air quality. As I thought about the fact that the health experts strongly recommended everyone (especially the elderly and those with health issues) avoid prolonged time outside when the smoke was present, I felt this dilemma was like one’s faith journey in life. We sometimes can be in a “fog.” We can see in the distance the reality of one’s meaning in life and what will happen when we die, yet we become so focused on the current challenges in front of us that we fail to remember the big picture. We may close ourselves off from the graces that we receive in the sacraments and hunker down simply hoping to make it on our own another day, week, month or year. We do not pay attention to the advice our good priests give us to seek God’s help in the sacraments and prayer to enable us to see better what we need to do and what we should avoid doing that may negatively impact our spiritual health. If we listen to the advice of physicians on how to protect our medical health shouldn’t we listen even closer to the advice of our spiritual leaders on how to protect our spiritual health? May we embrace God’s grace to clearly see what we need to do.

The noun, rumination, means a deep considered thought about something.

-By Deacon Tom Gryzbek