Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C.

After 5731 blogs there may not be much new under the sun for me. My friend Ian Bateson often tells me, “You are repeating yourself.” He is absolutely right. What I will write about today is a theme I have visited often.

It all began in my religion class at St. Edward’s High School in Austin in 1959. Our teacher, Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C, who unbeknownst to us, was really teaching us theology, one day began the class as follows, “You all perhaps brush your teeth in the morning and find the procedure boring and without meaning. What if you told yourself that you were doing it to have whiter teeth and good breath for your date today with that girl you like?”

From there he proceeded to tell us that the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) had a motto AMDG or Ad maiorem Dei gloriam which translates “For the glory of God.”

Rebecca & Brother Edwin

You don’t have to be religious to understand that if you dedicate your actions to someone you love, the action, no matter how meaningless, will have a most sudden value and sense of purpose.

Monday night in Kitsilano (until another holiday shifts the schedule) is garbage-preparation-for- tomorrow-night.

I put all my NYTimes and Vancouver Suns in my big yellow bag. I drop all my plastic containers into my blue box and I place my under-the-counter garbage bag into the black bin. But I never do this without emptying my cats’ litter box first.

All this was something that Rosemary used to do. I feel guilty that I did not offer to help her on this.

Especially emptying that litter box, in our bathroom, and washing it well before putting new litter is an action that almost makes me smile as I think of my Rosemary doing it. She would say,”If in the tub you smell the litter box, it is time to change it.”

How can I explain the sudden closeness I feel to her when I do this?

I may have to do that in our everyday menialities, when we shared them, we were sharing. That action of sharing is now nonexistent.

We used to watch Turner Classics on the TV and Noir Alley. I do not have the heart to watch films on my TV.

There is one positive element in my home life. My cats, Niño and Niña follow me everywhere and they are constantly wanting my attention. We humans define ourselves as sentient beings because we feel. Niño and Niña feel, they seem to understand when I am in one of those funks of not wanting to do anything. Niño stares at me around 2 in the afternoon, telling me with his eyes, “We have to go for our walk now.”  At 7 both stare at me. They want to get their treats on our bed (our used to be with Rosemary, now it is my bed and the cats’). As I feed them, one at a time, Rosemary is there with me in her absent presence.

Yes, these menialities are important, because taking my cue from Brother Edwin Reggio, C.S.C., I dedicate them to her.

I would like a sort of Post Script her to explain the wonderful imagination and teaching method of Brother Edwin. This is how he approached explaining Artistotles “proof” for the existence of God.  

“In a bowling alley your ball is returned after you make that terrible split. It goes up the ramp and hits the other bowling balls that are already there. They all react and move except for the last one. That last one is Aristotle’s unmoved mover.”