Celebrating the double nickel and lesson learned from getting hacked

What a couple of crazy days including this Sunday which just happens to be my 55th birthday!  As Fr. Rodney mentioned to the congregation at morning Mass, I am now eligible to join the parish senior citizens club!  I'm pretty excited to celebrate this double nickel anniversary of my birth and it has been quite a nice day!  Because this birthday is a Sunday the highlight is Mass and the blessed opportunity to assist Mass as Deacon.  This 2nd Sunday of Lent gives us those special readings of the father-son relationship of Abraham and Isaac and the powerful Father-Son relationship of God the Father and Jesus His only Son at the Transfiguration.  I chose to focus on the Father-Son relationship in the homily prepared and posted on this blog last night.

Among the many highlights of this birthday included my daughter driving home to spend the day with me and the opportunity to go to lunch with both my girls, wife & daughter, at a great restaraunt in a secluded lakeside village about 35 miles west and south.  We spent a fabulous Sunday afternoon at Middendorf's, famous for thin fried catfish, located on Lake Maurepas(pronounced more-e-paw).  It was such a beautiful afternoon we took a long drive through downtown Ponchatoula along the scenic parts of La. Hwy 22.

I am very gratified at the number of text messages, emails and facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday.  I know facebook makes it easy by telling you who is celebrating a birthday but it is so nice that people actually take the time to send greetings.  Speaking of sending messages, a Friday hacking incident has turned out to be a good lesson in caring about each other.  I was the one hacked.  My email mailbox was hacked and everyone who was in my address book received this ominous sounding message that I was stranded in England or something like that.  It went on to say that I had been mugged, need money, blah, blah, blah; you can guess the rest.  It's a classic hack job and I have received these in the past.  Unfortunatley, for many of my email buddies, it must have been a first-time experience.  The amount of phone calls of deep genuine concern was overwhelming.  I had people tell me they contacted the embassy and called my family members to check on me.  When I arrived for the vigil Mass yesterday afternoon I was approached by many relieved to see that I was ok.  Even though I knew this was a classic hack job, I must say the expressions of care and concern were humbling indeed!  I've since done all the things I need to do post hacking but I did lose all my email contacts and emails not archived.

So that's my birthday stories and I'm just filled with so many gifts and warm wishes and love from all those who care about me.  I hope that I'm just as generous to others.  God is so good.  Despite some recent personal trials, on this afternoon I am filled with great joy and know that He is working His plan for me.