Dear Beloved Parishioners,

I have been reading a beautiful book on prayer and spirituality by Father Henri Nouwen called “Beloved”. After earning degrees in Psychology, he went on to teach at the University of Notre Dame, and at both Yale and Harvard Divinity schools. Versed in five languages he joined L’Arche in Trosly, France, which was the first of over 100 communities where people with development

disabilities lived with assistants. As I have one granddaughter in graduate school in psychology dealing with children with severe emotional issues, and a daughter who runs a school for autism in Lafayette, I was intrigued by his outlook on life despite a very tough background in his

field dealing with the marginalized and many times unwanted.

“Despite what people say that our society is in a crisis mode, this is nothing new. I was Reading a book about the fourteenth century and I tell you things were not easy then either.

Think about the black death, the wars, the killings, the murders, and so on.

I don’t want to talk about silence and solitude of community and the word as urgent necessities in that sense. I want to say that wherever God is in solitude and silence and words, there is prayer and community. These are essential for our lives and transcend the world. I think it’s so important that there are always people who live solitude, live silence, live prayer and live community and are in the midst of the world. They are the little pointers to God.

The world lies in the power of the evil one; there’s nothing new about that. We don’t get panicky about the fact that there is so much evil. That’s precisely what the world is all about; it’s in the power of the evil one. St John said that whilst in the world, we live with the mystery that the world is in the power of the evil one. That is why Satan says to Jesus, ‘You can have it all, it’s mine anyhow’. Jesus doesn’t say, ‘That’s not true’. He says, ‘But I don’t want it’. So, the point is how, in a world that is evil, do we create places that allow us to get a glimpse of God’s goodness, of God’s love? I have a feeling we need

to turn everything upside down. We are always surprised by darkness. A certain darkness is brought about by evil. If you listen to the radio or watch television or you see the news.

You see that the world is in the power of the evil one. We keep telling people, ‘Look what happens, isn’t it terrible? Isn’t it awful? Isn’t it incredible? We keep being surprised by evil, but we should be surprised by goodness.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, turn the tv off, turn the radio off and go into a quiet place inside or out and be still and know that Lord thy God is waiting to listen to you. He is waiting to hear your prayers, your hopes, your dreams and your fears. Begin the conversation on a regular basis so you can consider your ways and more dearly and more clearly walk with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ.

In the world is chaos and noise, in Jesus there is solitude and a reassuring love which conquers all the world can throw at us.

God Bless,

David+