Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - May 10, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
A brief report from San Francisco, a few years ago.
“I” in this piece refers to a Catholic priest with a cane but no Roman collar. RH stands for “ride-hailing”, the service whereby you call for a driver and car. This is not an ad for RH but a testimony to how fascinating the drivers are. I purposely alter their names. The item below is from a two week stay in San Francisco in a rainy February. The rest is a sampling of your replies to the reflections!
The RH car and driver arrive to pick me up. I gesture that I need an arm at the curb and through the water. Before the driver could respond a young man sitting at a table outside a restaurant springs up and helps me to the car. The driver is a very personable man with a wife and two small kids.
He tells me that his name Mahmood is very common among Muslims, sort of equivalent to José or Joseph elsewhere. He has been in this country for some years and comes from Turkey. Before emigrating he had studied in Russia and speaks Russian, Turkish and English. Since I seem familiar with names like Istanbul and Ataturk, he correctly surmises that I was -- what else? -- a professor.
My previous accounts of ‘life with RH’ elicited reflections from you readers.
One reader writes: “I read your three epistles from SF and found myself filled with joy at the diversity and beauty of ordinary people. Thanks for awakening me to the importance of enjoying the people that we rub shoulders with each day - strangers as well as friends. Reminds me of a saying, ‘A stranger is a friend I haven't met yet.’"
Mark writes: “I love reading the reflections about SF from you. The writing transports those of us in cubicles to better realms.”
A number of readers have said what another put this way: “The vignettes from San Francisco show the humanity of people, a wish to be able to be caring and human.”
Mike: “It's pleasantly surprising how helpful people are. In this day and age in large metropolitan areas (so often) folks keep to themselves and hope that others do the same.”
A Protestant minister in the Midwest writes: “I do so enjoy your daily reflections, particularly the recent ones on your trip to San Francisco. They brighten me with the thought that there are kind, generous, and gracious people wherever you are. Sometimes you have to look for them, but often they come on you ‘unawares’.”
Tom says: “When you are out and about, the Holy Spirit is at work full time!!”
A tree nursery proprietor is encouraging: “Your blogs (about San Francisco) always brighten my day, and today’s even more than usual.”
From Dan came this: “As I work from home this morning, I laughed audibly and deeply at today's reflection. Tremendous last lines! Thank you for your gift of shared reflection and prayer. Your SF series is engaging. Thanks for tasking us as your readers to do the reflecting on these encounters. What a gift.”
(The last lines he refers to: "I tell him (a driver) I do alumni relations for a university and describe it as fun and fattening. He says: ‘Isn't that what it's supposed to be at your age, fun and fattening?’ It doesn’t take much persuasion for me to go along with this and shortly after give more credence to his opinion when I buy four pieces of panforte to send back home for ‘future reference.'")
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!”
