A Reply to Love
from the foot of the cross
One of the joys of traveling for me, perhaps the chief joy - is seeing how other people do things:
I’m not too big on looking for signs, but I do try to appreciate them when God deigns to send one along.
This past year I have had the privilege of being a youth minister with Sr. Bridget and Kelly Colangelo at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Tallahassee, FL. We served middle school and high school teenagers and ran various types of programs from large group sessions to small group Bible studies to girls and guys groups. We hosted several retreats, we each met with some teens for individual accompaniment, we sometimes visited them at their schools for lunch, and went to their sports games. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with teenagers and it was so much fun and they taught me so much!
My name is Sr. Miriam and I was Sr. Teresa's “pastoral person” for the last 19 months or so, which meant that we met regularly to talk about how she was doing. She was also a dear friend and sister.
My dad’s sister painted a Black Madonna with the Christ child in honor of my adopted brother who is bi-racial and three years older than me.
He was a silent witness. Every day. Multiple times a day. Day in and day out. Rain, snow, sunshine, feast day or ferial day. He always came and sat in the back.
December 26, 7:44 AM. While we were finishing the intercessions and were just about to pray the Lord’s Prayer during Morning Prayer, suddenly we heard a sound like a freight train coming from the back of the chapel.
Sixty years seem like a long time. But, it really isn’t when considering the life in eternity to which we are all called.
