Last year at this precise point in time, my family was experiencing a shattering of all things good which were connected to love, peace, and unity. Diseases of biblical proportions, unlike any I had ever seen in hospitals, took residence inside millions of people in every country in our world. They engulfed my family’s world too in painful ways as we spent Advent and Christmas outside in the cold with masks and social distancing. Where was hope? Where was unity? Where were we to turn for shelter, protection, and peace in this bone chilling wilderness?
“Fear not, for I am with you. I will help you… for I am the Lord your God, who grasp your right hand, It is I who say to you Fear not, you worm Jacob, O maggot Israel, says the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel... And when the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I, the Lord will answer them... I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together; that men and women shall see and know that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
As Lay Dominicans, my husband Ted and I turned to early Morning Prayer with the Friars at our St. Peter Church in Memphis. We learned to sing the Psalms, sacred words, many of which are attributed to King David. And from what I witnessed and continue to see, miracles of unity and peace ARE happening within our family, church, and city. Our church is experiencing growth with new life, new families are arriving, young and old worshiping and singing together under the canopy of beautiful music and great faith formation. At Catholic Charities, there are four oases in our city of Memphis which follow the teaching of Christ to provide help to those in need. We see how the 50th anniversary of our Catholic Diocese of Memphis has and continues to be a place of unity... belonging for everyone, a place to be loved and to "Serve Love.” Hundreds have recently experienced our Bishop’s First Eucharistic Congress and at its conclusion a procession through the streets of downtown Memphis to our St Peter Church served by Dominicans for the last 180 years. There have been other walks too, pilgrimages made from our St Martin de Porres National Shrine and Institute into wilderness neighborhoods of despair and hopelessness in our city. But “Be not afraid,” we remember to say for we bring prayers and signs of hope for everybody… We BELIEVE in miracles, for our Merciful Father, has assured us of His Help.