Hello, Reader!
On this Labor Day, 2013, I put out the first of my occasional blogs. My
umbrella for this series is the work of the Sisters of Saint
Joseph of Rochester.
It’s our hope that
you and I, all of us, find fresh wind in our sails, as we enter the fall season
in the company of our God.
Some of these pieces will be short,
others a little longer but all with our daily relationship with God in mind. We
may find that God feels elusive to us, as we are absorbed with the other in our lives.
The other person :
Having lunch with A and spending most of the time on a cell phone with
B. Who is the other?
The old man with the cane in the
city square of Siena couldn’t cross over to the shops
easily. It was a combination of his
disabilities (like the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethsaida) and the ferocity of the packed
populace around the square in the spirit of the horse race called Il Palio. Ten
minutes elapsed. Then, as I watched from
a distance, two young people noticed this hesitant old man and escorted him
with delightful flourish. It made the old man smile. Others, too. Me, too.
God was in the city square
of Siena.
Throughout
his ministry, Jesus grew to be aware of the other: the person in the crowd, the
child, the foreigner, the stranger within his very own disciples.
Is the other place the fleshpots of Egypt or a big new world where
grace is valued and laughter is abundant?
Is the other time the way we always did it? Or is the other time when
God saw me through and washed me with newness?
Is the other in my present moment? In this person? This place? This
time?
The turn into September is, for us, a new season, a new day, and
perhaps, a graced new look at the other.
A new awareness of our God.
Lord, Jesus,
I believe You love me, and
You are lover of the other as well.
Let
me be conscious of the other,
however the unexpected other comes
to me.
There, may I find you anew. ~By Joan Sobala, SSJ
