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

It was one of those days: I just had to get away. My destination was a coffee shop, Antelope, outside the mall in the nearby urban center. My intention was to sit there, have coffee, and ponder, write and maybe ‘muse’. No matter how loud the surroundings, a change in ambience stimulates me. Since I no longer drive, I needed to find a ride among colleagues or confreres. Jim turned up. Though he was able to drive me in, another engagement would prevent him from bringing me back. I decided to gamble on running into an alumnus or neighbor who would get me back to campus.

Settling at a table with paper, pen, and iPhone did indeed lift my spirits and generate some thinking. I zipped off a good number of responses to email, more than I would have done in my office. For a break from the sedentary work, I walked for an hour in the mall. Still, no sight of a potential ride back home. And my phone’s power was dangerously low. The baristas could not help with a charging cord. I would need to use my RH app to call Uber for a ride. I sat down at my table, dangerously close to recovering the funk that drove me here in the first place. Just then a young lady coming to a nearby table greeted me with a very pleasant “Hello, good afternoon”. I seized the opening to return her greeting and vent a bit about my situation. She responded: “No problem; I have my charging cord, we’ll plug it in, and you’ll be okay.”

That issue solved I called Uber and within a few minutes Saif, a Somali immigrant, arrived with a Ford Focus. I sat in the front seat and introduced myself. He gave me his name and asked what kind of music I’d like on the radio. Fearing what a young man in his 20s would choose if I didn’t seize the moment, I guided him to 90.1 the classical music station. And so, I rode back home to the tune of Haydn and a bit of conversation with Saif whose English was limited. He commented as we entered my home campus that he drove this way at least once a day. He said: “The beautiful green all around always makes me feel happy.”

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

Watch Daily Mass online at: SaintJohnsAbbey.org/live

Send your prayer requests to the monks