Yellow Golf Balls

Travelogue IV:  the Canary Islands

A week in the Canary Islands with our London son, daughter in law and grand kids – great – what could be more exciting and fun.  Even better – our son said we could play golf.

   I prepared.  I bought some yellow golf balls and dug out my yellow golf shirt with the hope of bagging a few birdies.

   It was an all inclusive resort with a clientele from England and Germany; the abundance of food and drink was amazing.  A large swimming pool in the middle of the complex was a fun place for all.   I stayed on the balcony where I had an overview of the fun and did some reading and reflecting.

   What about all this food just off the Moroccan coast of North Africa?  We weren’t far from where people are starving – from where people risk their lives to escape to Europe.  Decorative minarets on the resort buildings called for prayer. 

   The golf was wonderful.  We played well on the lush green golf course placed on the volcanic island not far from the Sahara Desert.  Our scores were good but my yellow golf ball strategy didn’t help much.  We never saw a canary in the Canary Islands. A brochure explained: the ancient Romans named the Islands using the Latin word ‘canis’ which means dog – the Romans found lots of dogs in the place.  The all inclusive included - ‘hot dogs,’ but I advised the family to abstain.

   Night prayers with the children was a wonderful experience and challenging – “Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at  the hour of our death - God bless us and all the kids - Amen.”  Five year old Mathew commented and had a question, “that’s funny – why ALL the kids?” “We don’t even know the French kids.”  I tried to explain – “You see Matthew, all humanity has the same essence - uh – wait a minute, Grandma - Matthew has a question – I’ll be right back.”  

   Life with family is participation in the joy of the Kingdom of God and so is concern and political action  for the human family.