Friday Memo
Happy Friday, gang... and, again, a boatload of thanks.
Your kindness and goodness these last days have been a tremendous grace in a really rough spot, and that's a gift I won't soon forget. Forgive the silence -- it's all just been a lot to take in.
Hard as it is to believe, the most intense and turbulent period of my life -- and, most likely, that of a lot of us in this town -- began a year ago today with a bolt from the blue. And even into this week, it's just been curveball after curveball ever since.
Sure, that's been one thing to experience in the present. Yet seeing it unfold through the prism of a very long and starkly different history, the impact of these 12 months has been all the more stunning, even more than one would find at face value.
More on all that in a bit. In the meanwhile, an important Ecclesial Service Announcement: much as the news is (as ever) running fast and furious, one thing that hasn't exactly topped the headlines but maybe should is tomorrow's observance across the church of the World Day of the Sick, marked this year for the 20th time since it was instituted in 1993 by Blessed John Paul II.
Unless there are any hermits among this crowd -- and, here, that's actually very possible -- odds are it wouldn't be hard for any of us to think of someone in our lives experiencing some form of illness or brokenness, be it in body, mind or spirit. What's more, regardless of its source, suffering is often made worse by a sense of loneliness, born of the isolation or lack of mobility that often comes from it.
Lord knows we can't exactly bring about most cures, but that doesn't mean we each lack a special ability to heal, whether through a phone-call, a visit, a little special something that lets someone who needs it know that they're not alone and anything but forgotten.
Of course, doing this doesn't belong to any one day. But especially in our time, life is such that a frantic culture can use an extra prod here and there.
On behalf of people who especially seek and deserve it, tomorrow's one of those. So here's hoping we each take a moment to bring a little light and strength where its gift is needed most.
-30-
Your kindness and goodness these last days have been a tremendous grace in a really rough spot, and that's a gift I won't soon forget. Forgive the silence -- it's all just been a lot to take in.
Hard as it is to believe, the most intense and turbulent period of my life -- and, most likely, that of a lot of us in this town -- began a year ago today with a bolt from the blue. And even into this week, it's just been curveball after curveball ever since.
Sure, that's been one thing to experience in the present. Yet seeing it unfold through the prism of a very long and starkly different history, the impact of these 12 months has been all the more stunning, even more than one would find at face value.
More on all that in a bit. In the meanwhile, an important Ecclesial Service Announcement: much as the news is (as ever) running fast and furious, one thing that hasn't exactly topped the headlines but maybe should is tomorrow's observance across the church of the World Day of the Sick, marked this year for the 20th time since it was instituted in 1993 by Blessed John Paul II.
Unless there are any hermits among this crowd -- and, here, that's actually very possible -- odds are it wouldn't be hard for any of us to think of someone in our lives experiencing some form of illness or brokenness, be it in body, mind or spirit. What's more, regardless of its source, suffering is often made worse by a sense of loneliness, born of the isolation or lack of mobility that often comes from it.
Lord knows we can't exactly bring about most cures, but that doesn't mean we each lack a special ability to heal, whether through a phone-call, a visit, a little special something that lets someone who needs it know that they're not alone and anything but forgotten.
Of course, doing this doesn't belong to any one day. But especially in our time, life is such that a frantic culture can use an extra prod here and there.
On behalf of people who especially seek and deserve it, tomorrow's one of those. So here's hoping we each take a moment to bring a little light and strength where its gift is needed most.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 10:19
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