1-2-3 Green Light

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

From my WordPress blog post 
on February 28, 2009
https://jmjriz.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/1-2-3-green-light/ 

It happened back in the autumn of 1997.  I was in the throes of a change of life experience—complete with a broken relationship and a good deal of depression.  I knew I needed to “go cold turkey,” to make a clean break with the past after this seven year stint in Maryland, but how?  I was weighed down by nineteen years of accumulated belongings that needed me.  Back then I wasn’t aware of the “triangle of truisms.” ** 
I wasn’t aware that I was being guided by the Holy Spirit.

What would I keep vs. sell vs. give away?

Providentially, I was gifted with three sayings or proverbs if you will, that made all the difference. The moment I put them together in relation to each other and applied them to my difficult situation, I was moved to pure action and within three hours it was all over.***

I offer them to anyone who is paralyzed and unable to effect change in their lives due to their worldly possessions.

REMEMBER:

                                1.  You can’t take it with you!

                                2.  It’s just stuff!                     

                                3.  Out of sight, out of mind! 

When you ponder these three expressions with a Christian appreciation of the Most Holy Trinity, you open up a world of possibilities.

With this triad as a guide I was able to pare down my earthly belongings to what would comfortably fit in the back of a mini-van.  It was a necessary step in my reversion back to the Catholic faith of my youth which occurred in Florida five months later.

Trust me, it works…

better still, Trust God

Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!

* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael

** -  "But the love of man and woman is not an institution that can be abolished, or a contract that can be terminated. It is something older than all institutions or contracts, and something that is certain to outlast them all. All the other revolts are real, because there remains a possibility that the things may be destroyed, or at least divided.... There is no dispute about the purpose of Nature in creating such an attraction. It would be more intelligent to call it the purpose of God; for Nature can have no purpose unless God is behind it. To talk of the purpose of Nature is to make a vain attempt to avoid being anthropomorphic, merely by being feminist. It is believing in a goddess because you are too sceptical to believe in a god. But this is a controversy which can be kept apart from the question, if we content ourselves with saying that the vital value ultimately found in this attraction is, of course, the renewal of the race itself. The child is an explanation of the father and mother and the fact that it is a human child is the explanation of the ancient human ties connecting the father and mother....

This triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilisations which disregard it. Most modern reformers are merely bottomless sceptics, and have no basis on which to rebuild; and it is well that such reformers should realise that there is something they cannot reform. You can put down the mighty from their seat; you can turn the world upside down, and there is much to be said for the view that it may then be the right way up. But you cannot create a world in which the baby carries the mother. You cannot create a world in which the mother has not authority over the baby."

G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

*** - I moved at least 20 full cardboard boxes to the curb of the cul-de-sac and all of my remaining furniture to include an oversized multi-section, California waterbed. I felt as if I had the strength of ten helping me even though I was alone. 

When my work was complete and I was content that I had finally done it, I looked overhead and saw a big black cloud casting a shadow down to earth.  I raised my hands and challenged God.  "Go ahead and rain on it, at least then I will know that you exist." 

The cloud passed without shedding a drop. 

Word must have gotten out that a looney tune of a guy was giving away everything, because within a short time cars were everywhere and people were taking this thing and that and some were even trying to convince me to hang on to my valuable 'stuff.'

I would have none of it.