I first began writing these little monthly blogs in September of 2002. I am sure my thoughts and ideas over the past twenty-one years have been repeated many times over the years. Today, I decided to reread some of my early postings, many of which I don’t even remember writing!
The first thing I noticed was the length of my articles. They are generally much shorter now than they were twenty years ago. Am I running out of things to say or am I just getting lazy? I may have been more passionate in my fifties than I am now in my seventies. Have I mellowed in my old age? My thought processes have slowed for sure.
When this all started, I hoped it to be an evangelizing tool for friends and acquaintances on a local level. Even though I have little evidence of positive results, I am not discouraged. My hope has always been that someone someday might go through all of these monthly messages and edit them into a little book for publication. I have no illusions that my message is unique in any way. I do believe there may be some interest in local authors however. Several people in our little town have had books published and some will read them out of curiosity.
If you just hand someone a book on Catholic apologetics, you are probably going to get a cool reception if the person is not open to exploring the subject matter. If you offer a book on the same topic written by a local acquaintance, they are more likely to give it a read. That sums up my reason for doing this. Everything I say has been said better by others worldwide. But, there may be a couple of thousand people within a few miles of me who might be curious about what that guy they have seen around town wrote about. If it has an impact on one person, maybe it is worth the effort.
My grandmother, who died in 1962, wrote little poems that were published in a local newspaper and a tiny booklet. Those writings are her legacy. She speaks to me today in those words she put on paper long ago. I see the world she knew in her time. I envision someone reading my writings many years from now, learning about my faith experience in the early twenty-first century.
I do wonder what form literary distribution will take sixty years from now. Up until recently, I collected Catholic audio CDs to distribute to anyone willing to hear them. Now, CD players are becoming rare. Most car manufacturers no longer include them. Digital downloads are the current trend, but not easy to hand out on the street corner. I live knowing the possibility no one will ever see what I have written, or that it will have no positive impact if they do.
Even so, doing this is also good for me personally. It takes a certain amount of discipline to keep up the monthly routine. I need to spend time thinking about my faith and deciding what to say. Sitting quietly before the Blessed Sacrament once a week helps develop topics and organize thoughts. At times, my enthusiasm wanes. Maybe I really am getting lazy or numb to the world. It is easy to throw up my hands and think why bother? I can’t be responsible for everyone’s soul. But, there is always that chance that one of my descendants down the line will be cleaning out an attic and find something I had written many years ago about the Catholic faith. Just maybe it will plant a seed that takes root a hundred years from now. God only knows.
