Greetings from Urbana, Illinois.
Mom and I drove back from Minnesota and arrived here yesterday. We are both tired but happy to be 'home'. We went to the river with Carol before we left Minnesota and had a lovely prayer service to remember Alex on the fourth Monday after he drowned. We read from the scriptures, dropped some dying cut flowers that friends had sent into the river and Carol sang a lullaby that she would sing to her children before they went to sleep. We are learning to live with our new reality and now we will try to move on...just like the flowing river.
Today is the Feast of the Assumption. It is also the 38th anniversary of the beginning of the Maryknoll Lay Missioner program and the 19th anniversary of the founding of the Maryknoll Mission Association. It is also the feast of Loa Parish in South Sudan and the Diocese of Kitale, Kenya...both places where I worked in the past. So, it is a day for me to remember many good things that have happened to me on my life's journey and so many of you have have been so supportive and encouraging along the way. The gospel in today's liturgy is Luke 1:39-56. Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth and sings her song...the Magnificat. She gives me, as a woman, the example of how to meet challenges and think of others...to serve where there is need and praise God for everything. With gratitude I remember all of you too.
