Semper paratus

Got an email today, supposedly from the U.S. Coast Guard -- motto: Always prepared, above in Latin -- saying they had a scholarship offer for students like me with tuition and a monthly stipend of several thousand dollars. You know, 63-year-old students like me.

Not really trusting that offer for some reason ...

Made me think of the late Fr. Peter Roberts, however, a friar I lived with for a number of years as a student, as a colleague and lastly as his local superior. He had always wanted to go into the Coast Guard, but he wasn't good at math and that was a major stumbling block.

His first assignment as a young Carmelite priest? Teaching math in the high school seminary.

Who says God doesn't have a wicked sense of humor?

God rest you, Pete! After all, St. Therese said that the only thing God doesn't know is math -- because God doesn't keep count of how many times we mess up, only that we keep turning back for mercy.