God in plain sight

I am excited to say that I made a connection with a senior living center here in Albuquerque! Thanks to your support, I will start saying Mass and providing pastoral care to this community next week. I still have to learn if they are comfortable with a female Roman Catholic priest, but I am hopeful.

When I went by there today to size up the chapel, I witnessed the most tender moment. I was waiting in the lobby when an elderly woman, perhaps in her 80s, was being escorted by hand to the front desk by a young female caregiver. She shuffled ever-so-carefully to the receptionist and asked when her son was going to arrive. The young woman at the desk was kind and deeply patient. She said with a smile, "He will be here in a couple of hours. Would you like to wait out here or in your room? He usually meets you in your room." The resident cocked her head and answered, "He does?" She was from the memory care unit. The receptionist smiled again and nodded, "Yes, he does." "Okay," she answered, "I will wait in my room." She turned around, took the hand once again of the sweet, young caregiver, and began the slow shuffle back to her room. I had to work to keep my composure. It was God in plain sight.

Life is so very difficult for so many, and for reasons we often cannot understand. Yet one thing is certain: God is always with us, persistently trying to break into our lives at every single moment--and often succeeding. Let us cultivate the spiritual practice each day of finding and cooperating with this Spirit as often as we can, for it is the only thing that will lead us to the world of peace and justice that we all want to see.

Let us all be patient and kind to one another. Oh, how the world would be.