Get Rid Of The Baggage – 2024

An illustration by J. C. Leyendecker featured as the cover of The Saturday Evening Post welcoming in the New Year of 1908

This weekend, Uncle George spoke to me as I was writing in my journal. With two days to go until the New Year, I was contemplating what I wanted to accomplish in 2024 – and I heard Fr. McKenna’s voice call me back to this particular blog. Get Rid of the Baggage. And boy do I have a lot! My closet was overflowing with clothes I never wear, the same with my dresser, and my home office has been accumulating “stuff” since I retired. So, I made a decision early Saturday morning, that I was going to listen to the advice of this sage.

And I’ll tell you what – man, do I feel lighter and refreshed. I spent yesterday and today, going through that dresser, and going through that closet, and then tackling my office. I just returned from Goodwill dropping off 2 full 30 gallon garbage bags of clothes – all in good repair, a couple pairs of shoes, and some additional nicknacks. I was also able to shred and recycle a lot of paper items, and fill another two garbage bags, with garbage. My bedroom and my office have a clean slate – and I can feel a peace in my thoughts. Now to attend to my internal baggage, and 2024 will be a shining light for me.

Happy New Year to all, may you be blessed with Health, Peace, Love and Happiness, Joe

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Here’s Fr. McKenna’s original blog.

As the New Year begins, in old Rome, the people followed an unusual custom. At the stroke of midnight, they would open their windows and throw out old possessions into the streets below; broken chairs, ragged clothing, and old dishes. The reasoning behind the custom is that the people wished to go into the New Year without all this unnecessary baggage. In a dramatic way, the citizens of Rome cast out of their lives old grudges, hurt feelings and distressing memories of mishaps of the past year.

At this time of the year, all believers in a joyful way of living could open their front doors and throw out from their lives the unhappy events, the bruised hearts and the shattering disappointments of 2015. No one need go into the precious days of the New Year loaded down with the baggage of the year gone by. The time of this year ahead, 2016, comes to us fresh, filled with possibilities of delightful surprises and brand new experiences.

In the hearts of everyone lies riches and talents never before brought to the light of day. With a fresh outlook on the year to come, a person of faith can fall in love with life and bring to the surface all these hidden and unused beauties within. Does anyone use the heart to its full powers to give love and affection to family members and the world?

Recently, a medical doctor stated, “If I were a writer or a public speaker, I would be out there most of the time fighting fear. If I could cut down fear and worry in the lives of people, I could get in a lot more games of golf, because it is mostly fear and worry that fill my office.”

Like a heavy backpack, fear and worry pull people to the ground and leave no time for laughter, joy and sheer delight of living. Worry, in its root meaning, equals “strangulation” or “choking”. A worrier chokes off the real beauty of life.

A follower of the Lord can face each day with a loving trust in God and determine to rise above these ghosts of doom. I say “ghosts” because most of the things we worry about never occur. Whatever happens today, Jesus of Nazareth will help me deal with it. At the end of the week, we start our New Year. Don’t you think it’s time to get rid of your baggage, and hold on to the hope offered through the Christ Child?

Fr. George Mc Kenna

A Sure Fire Secret For Joyful and Stress-Free Living

I wish to share a secret for happy and care-free living! In recent times, this Secret has brought me much peace of heart and freedom from fears and anxieties. My policy has always been to never offer any program for living that I haven’t tried myself over a long period of time. Using this Secret consistently, the reader will be building life on a solid foundation of sound mental health. A soul free of worries can make a quantum leap into a closer union with God.

The Buck Moon – July 13, 2022, peaking through the leaves of my neighbor’s oak tree.

I found this Secret many months ago. It’s so simple that a child can use it. LIVE IN THE NOW. By living in the Now, we avoid allowing our thoughts to dwell on the past or the future in a sick way! Few people live in the Now! Be one of the few! In following this Secret, we will bring ourselves back to the present moment many times each day. “I am eating bacon . . . Today is Mary 20, 1997 . . . I am driving west on 95th Street . . . “.

In the lives of those embracing it, the Secret can work minor miracles. The perennial worrier finds himself so occupied with present activity that no time can be given to the past or the future in an unhealthy manner. In my own experience, I have tasted the simple joys of daily life as never before. “I’m tasting coffee. . . I see clouds in the sky. . . I am talking to my friend. . . “.

In following this program, Living in the Now, we find ourselves standing on a bridge looking at seething waters below. These waters make up our fears and anxieties. But we aren’t part of that whirlpool below because we are centering our lives on the Now! Result. . . Peace of Mind!

Do I have to keep coming back to the present? This crucial part of the Secret might dismay good-hearted people. “Just too much”, they might say. Believe me! This practice turns out to be a joy! In following the Secret, we throw ourselves into the ordinary delights of living, instead of attending to them in a “zombie-like” fashion.

With a little practice, we become aware that our thoughts are dwelling morosely on the past or are taken up with future, possible difficulties. We shift gears quickly and bring ourselves to the Now, and those thoughts and worries leave us – it’s as easy as that.

At times, we must think of the past or look ahead to the future, as when we are planning for retirement, or a vacation. But when we do this in a healthy way, there is no problem. Give the secret a good try! Refuse to put it aside as a new gimmick or a passing fad! Peace of mind guaranteed!

Fr. George McKenna

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Uncle George used the message above in his Bulletin for the Midway Airport Chapel in April, 1997. I can vouch for his opening comment about trying various programs. After he moved out of his apartment and into the Bishop Lyne Residence for retired priests, many of his belongings found a new home in my basement. Among these belongings were many books and tapes on the power of a positive attitude, living a devote life, and self-improvement. Yes, Fr. McKenna lived in the present moment, a trailblazer, if you will, in this movement.

Today, you can find many a book, blog or presentation on this aspect of life, and the benefits it can bring to you. I can’t say that I follow it religiously, but there are certain things that bring me to the present moment in an instant. A clear sky and a full moon coming over the horizon – to me, it is the closest I feel to God, and on numerous occasions, when I see the full moon in the sky, I will bring my 6-year-old granddaughter out with me to see this wonderous site – spring, summer, fall, the dead of winter, we will gaze up at the night sky and be awed by one of the most beautiful creations God has given us as a reminder of His presence, His power, His Love.

Another is the rainbow! The night before my oldest son was born, a rainbow appeared in the eastern sky, and I have always associated rainbows with him, and with blessings. Three years ago this August, that same son, was blessed with a son of his own. Luke was born premature, and lived on a few days, his circulation just not robust enough to carry him through and he passed from this life to the next. I had the fortune to meet young Luke and to hold him. Days later, when we were going to the airport to travel back to Virginia for his funeral, a double rainbow appeared in the western sky over O’Hare Airport. A present moment that meant the world to me. As I gazed at this beautiful sight, I thought of Luke, I thought of my son, and I thought of the message that God was sending me. Luke is fine, your son and his family will be fine.

Follow Uncle George’s advice. There are miracles happening each day, if we stay in the present moment, we have a better chance of witnessing these great mysteries. Truly, God is Good!

God’s Peace, Joe.