Monday Message, April 25, 2022

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KNOW

We are all about People of Hope this week. If you have not registered, please do so. If you want to send your folks a flyer, look here. If you want to see the complete list of speakers, check this out.

That’s it. Sure, we have a parish check in next week, but this week, it’s all about inviting folks to People of Hope.

REFLECT

The tomb is empty. Alleluia.

Since we talked last, I have memorized the locations of every pot hole from Fairfield to Philadelphia. You see, when my dad died, he took my hand and asked me to look after his sister. I have taken that invitation seriously since 2011.

Aunt B fell Tuesday of Holy Week so I came down to Philly. Then again on Wednesday of Holy Week, so I came back. This time, she landed in the hospital and then rehab. I’ve made the trip five or six times and yesterday decided to stay for a day or two. While home last week, Maureen and I visited and spoke with about a half dozen facilities and last night, using the posters my kids made, Aunt B chose one near our house. Today and the next few days will involve trying to get the paperwork filled out, a few things packed, and then moving the patient north.

It’s all very overwhelming for her (and us). We do not like to see the ones we love suffer. Aunt B has been a grandmother to my own children and a confidant to me for quite some time. She is a retired school teacher, lifelong skier, Irish step dancer, and a fighter. She is fiercely independent, so when the doctor told us she can no longer live on her own, it was a punch in the gut. Please pray for us this week as we upend our lives to bring her closer and for her as she leaves the only home she’s known for decades. As many of you know, caring for those in their wisdom years can be taxing, even exhausting.

My prayer these last weeks has been a plea to my dad to help me avoid doing a big thing badly.

But the tomb is empty, and there is hope all around us. May we find our strength in that simple statement. The tomb is empty. Alleluia.

LAUGH