Joy! Joy! Unspeakable Joy!

"Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God." (Teilhard de Chardin)


Such a moment occurred last Sunday at a nursing home where one of our elderly parishioners suffering from dementia was being cared for.

Many years ago, Gertrude and I would go together to bring Communion to our shut-in parishioners. She was a painfully shy woman who could not bring herself to go alone but wanted very much to participate in this ministry. Gertrude loved to help the sick and for many years, she nursed people in their homes.

As the years passed, Gertrude herself became homebound and slowly became a victim of dementia. I visited her many times to bring her Communion.

About two years ago, my visits ceased when Gertrude was placed in a nursing home. One of our other parishioners had been visiting her and she continued to do so at the several nursing homes Gertrude was moved in and out of. I could no longer keep track of her because I now had others I was visiting.

We now have a new pastor. One of the things we wanted to do was to introduce him to our shut-ins. This we have begun doing.

However, before taking our priest to visit Gertrude, I wanted to visit her myself to see how she was and to determine whether or not she could receive Communion. Rosemary, who had now visited her many times, thought that Gertrude could no longer understand what the Sacrament was about. That her dementia was too far advanced. So, we arranged a Sunday after Mass when I could accompany Rosemary and another parishioner to visit Gertrude.

We arrived at the nursing home and waited in the parlor until the nurse brought Gertrude to us in her wheelchair. I did not think she would remember me after so long a time, so I said very little.

Rosemary and Mieko sat on either side of Gertrude and were talking to her and showing her the Christmas gift they had brought. Gertrude recognized them. Suddenly she looked over to me; and with a look of incredible joy lighting up her face, she recognized me. I was absolutely overwhelmed... She wouldn't stop looking at me and she wouldn't stop smiling. I went over to her and tenderly stroked her hair as my tears fell. She held out her hand to me and spoke my name several times. Most of her words are now incoherent but she tried hard to communicate with us.

I was so moved because I recognized that this moment was a sacred one for Gertrude and for us who witnessed it. I thank God for this gift.

Even though she cannot speak coherently, she understood what we were saying. I told her the next time I came to visit, I would bring our priest with me. Again, her face broke out in a smile. If we had brought Communion to her that day, she could have received it and understood.

There's a lesson here. We simply don't know what an impact simple actions on our part can have on another person. All those times that Gertrude and I visited the sick together must have meant much more to her than I could ever have guessed.

The joy that God's presence brings was surely in that room with us that day.


Photo by Mieko via IPhone during our visit with Gertrude.

"Souled Out" for Jesus! ~ Choir Anniversary Concert

The church was packed! There was standing room only in the rear of the sanctuary and the choir loft was filled with folks who had found no room downstairs! The date was September 26, 2010 and the Gospel Choir was celebrating its 19th Anniversary!

The choir is actually 33 years old, having been organized in 1977 under the pastorship of Fr. S. We did not celebrate our anniversaries with concerts in the early years; but once the tradition began, we have gotten better and better both as a gospel choir and as people who really know how to celebrate with music and a delicious meal afterwards!

We have always invited other choirs to celebrate with us and they have added their unique styles of Gospel music to ours, so that our celebrations are a spirit-filled and glorious tribute to our God.

This year our guest choirs were the Youth & Children's Choir of Union Baptist Church, The Gospel Voices of Glen Allen, The Maggie Walker Alumni Gospel Choir and The Tribe of Judah of ROK Church Int'l of Ashburn Va.

In addition to the choirs, we were graced with beautiful presentations by the Praise Dance & Flag Ministry of Ministers Iris Pollard and Geri Gatling. The huge white flags, which gave the appearance of wings, accented the music and dance in a stunningly beautiful way. The congregation showed their appreciation with standing ovations!

Our theme this year was "Souled out for Jesus!" and our choir led off with our theme song, "Souled Out!" featuring Jordan W-R as lead singer. This rousing gospel song was followed by the beautiful "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" featuring our own Kim F. We closed out our portion of the concert with "I Will Bless The Lord." All of our hard work in learning these three new songs was rewarded by the appreciation shown by our parishioners and guests!

After the concert, a wonderful repast awaited our guests. The decorating committee had done a great job in making our parish hall festive and beautiful. An abundance of good food had been provided for our guests and all enjoyed themselves.

It was a wonderful evening celebration and we look forward to next year when we celebrate our 20th Anniversary!

The Mirror Image - A Reflection

Recently my parish Gospel Choir was invited to sing at a Baptist Church Revival. We have sung at this church before since our choir director's mother is a member there. Our choir has been together for a long time and we enjoy these kinds of invitations. We are invited to sing at several different events each year.

I was struck by a story that the preacher leading the revival told the congregation. I want to share this story with you because what he said made a deep impression on me.

His story was about a man who was watching a silversmith refining silver. The silversmith had a quantity of silver that he was working with. He grasped a lump of silver with his tongs and aimed the tongs into the fire at its hottest point. The man watching the silversmith asked him what he was doing.

The silversmith replied that this fire was so hot that it would burn away all the impurities in the silver. When the impurities were gone, the silver would be refined and perfect; a thing of beauty. The man questioned the silversmith further and asked: "How do you know when the silver is purified and refined?"

"When I can see my face in it!" replied the silversmith.

The preacher then explained how similar this refining process is to what happens to us when God allows us to experience the sorrows, temptations, tragedies and challenges of our daily lives. We are tested and often given more than we believe we can bear; but through our belief and trust in God, we know that we are being purified and refined so that one day, when God looks at our souls, He will see His Face looking back at Him.

I had never thought of our God refining and purifying us in just this way... Maybe you haven't either. That's why I wanted to share this story with you.

A St. Plurk Adventure at the Scout Jamboree!

Several months ago, Fr. Leo (of Plurk fame) mentioned that he was planning to go to the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P.Hill in Virginia in July. I thought, "Wow!"... I could actually envision meeting one of the members of St. Plurk Parish since the site of the jamboree was not too far from my town. So we had a few discussions about the possibility of a visit; and thus it came to pass...

Knowing that the July heat in central Virginia is pretty rough and the humidity makes it even worse, I remembered to apply some sunscreen before I left. I put on my baseball cap and grabbed my water bottle and off I went on my excursion.

I took the scenic route north and had a very pleasant drive. Presently, I arrived at A.P. Hill... There had been very little traffic on the way and I figured this was going to be easy after all. Uh-oh! How wrong I was! I had hardly turned into the gate when ahead of me was the end of a l-o-n-g line of cars, crawling along at a snail's pace.

We had planned on meeting about 1:30 p.m. and it was not yet 1 o'clock so I figured the parking area probably was not too far ahead. Oops! Another wrong guess! The minutes dragged on and it didn't seem that we were getting anywhere. And then I saw the sign: Parking, 6 miles ahead! Good grief! So, I called Fr. Leo and advised him I would be a bit later than expected.

Finally, after I had almost finished my first bottle of water, the parking queue ended up in a field and we were directed where to park. We were herded toward a towering white tent which was the Welcome Tent. All the visitors had to enter the tent before being allowed to search for whomever we were visiting. Good thing too, because by now, nobody had the faintest idea in which direction we should go.

In the tent, we were given a welcome kit and a scouting patch as souvenirs and that vital MAP that would answer all our questions about which direction to go. But wait! We were told that we would have to catch one of the shuttle buses to get anywhere in this humongous complex. The scout explaining it all to me told me that I needed to catch either a red, yellow or orange bus; not a blue bus! The buses were all school-yellow. And where do I catch the bus? "Just walk over there where those bus signs are. Each bus has a colored sign..." I quickly got my water bottle refilled and moved out. The day was extremely hot!

There were several lines and lots of people milling around the bus stop. Nobody seemed to know what to do... A bus arrived and part of one line filed into the bus and off they went., I asked someone how long they had been waiting for a ride and the woman said, an hour!!! Uh-oh! Not good! I was already using up my second refill of water by that time. Luckily, after a few minutes, an official told me that she would help me get on the next bus. It was a blue bus! Who cares! I was finally on the move. We eventually arrived at the bus staging area. What this meant was that we would all have to get off our bus and wait for another! Uh-oh! So it was back out into the hot sun again! I was running out of water again too!

I put in another call to Fr. Leo and told him where I was. Lo and behold, he knew exactly where I was talking about! He told me to walk up the road and he would intercept me. I looked up at the sun and told him I was walking north. Was that the right direction? Yep! That was right. About a half block later, I saw someone who looked familiar walking toward me. That's him!!!! I waved. He had seen me too. After a quick hug, we walked to his camp's site and under some shade trees, we had a nice little visit. However, it had taken me so long to get there that I soon had to leave. There was no telling how long it would take me to get back to the welcome tent with such a confusing shuttle bus situation. And it had gotten much hotter... so hot that the loudspeakers had declared a red alert!

Fr. Leo graciously walked me back to the staging area and presently a parking-lot bus became available and I said goodbye to Fr. Leo and boarded. About twenty minutes later the bus arrived at the welcome tent and parking lot. You can't imagine how happy I was to get back in my car, turn up the air conditioning and be on my way!

It was an interesting adventure and I really enjoyed meeting Fr. Leo, but I can tell you that I will never do something like that again. The summer heat and humidity are not good for an older person. Especially when we all are so used to air conditioned comfort. I had also never imagined how large an area 40,000+ Scouts and their leaders would need. This is a huge complex with lots of activities going on. No wonder the shuttle bus situation is so confusing to a first time visitor. Thank goodness for the jamboree maps!

So that's how it went yesterday!

Our blood is precious!

Once again, my Catholic social networking group has decided to write on a specific topic. Since July brings us the Feast of the Most Precious Blood in the old calendar, someone convinced the rest of us that the Precious Blood should be our topic.

I was very hesitant about this topic because I simply had not thought very much about it, though I receive this Gift several times a week and also on Sunday. But here I am, putting my fingers to the task of typing up a blog article about the Most Precious Blood!

The first thing that came to my mind is how precious blood is to us. Without it, we couldn't exist. The average human body contains 8-10 pints of blood (more or less depending on one's size). A unit of blood is considered a pint. Blood makes up about 7% of our body's weight.

When we are hurt and we see our life's blood seeping away, we immediately try to stanch its flow. We know instinctively that we need that blood to live.

There is another kind of life's blood that we desire to receive and that is the Precious Blood that we are allowed to consume along with Christ's Body at Holy Mass. When I was a child and young woman, only the priest was allowed to receive the Precious Blood at Mass. And he did so in order to complete the entire Sacrifice. As for ordinary folk like me and everybody else, Christ's Body in the form of the Consecrated Bread was our complete communion with the Lord. Of course, we all realized that the Bread was both Body and Blood, soul and divinity, so we were satisfied. It was just one of those things which we didn't question.

But what a joy it was when one of the changes that came about after Vatican II was to bring us the privilege of communicating under both species. The symbolism of receiving under both species is important because it makes us even more aware of how precious the Blood shed by Jesus is for us. Not only is the Body taken and eaten; but the Blood also touches our lips and is consumed together and becomes a part of us.

Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is as precious to us as our own life's blood. We need both in order to live. However, we don't require 8 pints of Precious Blood in our body. Just a simple sip is all we need...

Lord, we thank you for the Blood you shed for us.

The End of Life as we know it ~ Part 3

For my friend, Doris T_ _ _ , who asked me to speak at her funeral...


I visited Doris soon after her serious bout with pneumonia, a couple of months ago. She had an important favor she wished of me.

"What would you like for me to do?"

And Doris said: "At my funeral, I want you to comfort my family and tell them about me."

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My dear loved ones... Henry, Robin, Tiffany, Mother, Nana girls, sister and brother, other family members and friends. I am truly aware that YOU are the ones who knew Doris best of all...

I think what Doris wanted me to do was to tell you what I understood about her experience of our Heavenly Father and the beauty I found in her heart and soul because she allowed me to see it.

I am the one she entrusted to bring her Holy Communion from this, her beloved parish church, during the times she was unable to attend our services.

It all began two years ago when my pastor told me to expect a call from Doris T_ _ _ , a parishioner I barely knew. Doris told me later that she knew me only as a choir member and a lector but she apparently trusted our pastor's judgement that her desire for privacy about her illness would be safe with me. Anyway, Doris called me and asked me to visit her and to bring her Holy Communion, which she very much desired.

During that first visit, we discovered that our personalities were well matched and our reactions to our life experiences were quite similar. Thus our friendship began.

Doris would phone me when she was ready for another visit... Each time I visited her, we would catch up on what had occurred in our lives since the last visit. Doris was very perceptive and would realize immediately if something was troubling me. Sometimes, Fr. _ _ _ and I visited her together, but most of the time, I visited her alone. Though not really alone for I carried the Body of Christ with me.

Anyway, all of the joys and concerns that we had just shared during the visit became part of the prayer we offered to God in petition and thanksgiving as she prepared to receive Him.

Those moments when Doris received the Body of Christ were holy and tender moments of communion with "her Jesus." Afterwards, I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for the Gift she had just received and she sometimes added her own prayer to mine.

My dear loved ones, Doris loved the Lord and she knew where her strength and courage would come from. She had a great yearning and desire to be united with Him through receiving the Body and Blood of Christ during Mass. When she was unable to attend Mass because of her illness, she still was able to satisfy that longing and receive Him at home.

I believe this is what she wanted me to share with you.

As for myself, I want to tell you what a privilege and honor it has been for me to be allowed to accompany Doris on that part of her journey. You know I loved her with all my heart and I know she loved me too.

In loving memory...

The End of Life as we know it ~ Part 2

Just a few months ago, I wrote a blog article about my friend, who knowing that she was reaching the end of her journey, asked me to speak at her funeral. You can read the original article here.

She has been in and out of the hospital or rehab center ever since. She has always been a very private person, so I only visited her when she expressly called me to do so.

Last night, I received a phone call from her husband. My friend was again in the hospital and this time, she will not return home. She asked her husband to call me; that she wished me to come to visit her. I said that I would come the next day or Tuesday. Her husband advised me to come the next day...that is how bad off she is.

There was no one in the room when I arrived this morning. Her husband had gone to get something to eat since he had been with her all night. One of the daughters would arrive a bit later. My friend was drifting in and out of sleep since she was heavily sedated. She is on hospice care now. She decided herself that she wanted nothing else done for her except to be kept comfortable. Not only is my friend a private person but she is a strong woman who has tried to keep as much control of her life as she can. She has even written her own obituary! I am in awe of her strength and character.

I went to her bedside and spoke to her. She became alert and recognized me. The first thing she said to me was to remind me of my promise to her. She can hardly speak clearly now but there was no doubt what she was saying to me. I assured her that I would do everything she wanted.

We are in an unfortunate period in my parish right now. We are in a transition time from one pastor to another. The priest who has been caring for my friend's spiritual needs the past 3 years has transferred to another diocese far away. He left in early June. Our new pastor will take over July 1st. In the meantime, we have had a visiting priest to celebrate our Sunday and Wednesday Masses. Neither of these priests know my friend or her family.

I explained all this to her husband who is not Catholic. He wants my help to make the church arrangements. In speaking to her daughter, I was reminded of another priest from a nearby parish who does know her. Hopefully, this priest will be available when the time comes.

I left them with the promise to return tomorrow... My friend's remaining days on earth are getting shorter now. It will soon be time for her to go home to her Heavenly Father.

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Update: My friend entered into the arms of her Heavenly Father on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 around 8:15 p.m.