Today’s find: Storm mode

On days like today, there’s really just one disadvantage to a home-based business: Having to send my dear spouse out into the gathering ice-storm to work her shift…while I hunker down all snug and cozy in my basement office, a blazing hearth just a few steps away.

Nasty stuff…and more on the way…

As I write, there’s still an outside chance my wife will be able to head home at the end of the workday. But more likely than not, she’ll be spending the night at LaSalle – both for her own safety…and to ensure that the retreat center’s guests can be tended to in the morning.

Not much I can do about the weather, I suppose. And from the comfort of my office, I realize that I am lifted up by the spirit of service and hospitality my wife and her co-workers display. They remain “on duty,” like so many other service workers in so many other settings on this frightful winter’s day.

A tip of the stocking cap to you all, I say. Especially you, Gerri.

You remind me of the kind-hearted crew we meet in today’s gospel. Determined not to let a little matter of inaccessibility get in their way, the four went to extraordinary lengths on behalf of a friend:

Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.

Jesus was moved by their determination. Jesus was moved by their faith. So it’s not too much of a stretch to say that this is precisely how God chooses to work in the world—relying on our simple acts of selflessness…to bring healing to the broken, to nourish those in hunger, to warm and comfort those who find themselves far from home.

Sometimes, though, it takes a good storm for us to recognize this goodness—this spark of ‘God-ness’—at work in the people who serve.

A special treat…for winter emergency.

Isn’t it a blessing to know that they are all around us?

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS