Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

Hard up for encouraging thoughts and words to give you, I have turned to some of the wonderful people I hear from via e-mail or courtesy of the US Postal system.

Jim’s wife Beth had a stroke some years ago which has left her paralyzed and unable to speak. Nevertheless because of occasional signs he reads to her and prays with her. Most recently he says: “We are both enjoying a remarkable work, Joan Chittister's The Breath of the Soul. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June with all three children present from Maine, Oregon and Rhode Island. Beth wore her wedding dress which she had made, and all enjoyed seeing her in it for the first time.”

Julie lives on a farm and writes: The computers are slow, but the grass is growing.  If I get totally fed up with the computer, I may just mow the lawn today or I could watch the two baby calves running around the pasture.  They are about 2 or 3 weeks old and full of energy!”

“Four years working for Haiti relief,” Ted writes, “has been very stressful, fast paced, and nonstop. I used Covid-19 time to pray and reflect.  I feel beat up; Mission work comes with its own set of trials such as an armed robbery in 2018. . .. I'm glad you still have, like me, many lay friends with whom you can connect despite physical distancing. How bland life would be without friends to share happiness with! We are social beings, meant to be around others, sharing fun, tough times and memories.”

“I am really getting sick of being at home, but really have no reason to complain,” says Sally. “I am not a single mom in a small apartment with little kids. We have a spacious backyard and rooms we can go to be alone if we wish.”

Doris writes: “I am reading Dorothy Day’s In My Own Words. It is certainly appropriate currently. She railed against the inequality of our society and stressed that the only way to know and serve God is to do so through and to our neighbor. Not the ones we socialize with, but those who need us, the poor. And she didn’t write about something she didn’t live every day!  I hope real change can finally come to make Americans of every color and gender equal.”

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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