Advent Reflection - Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

“… and a little child shall guide them”

This passage from Isaiah has always been a favorite of Biblical scholars for it contains a prophecy of the rise of a new Davidic king and the coming of a peaceable kingdom. It is also a favorite of mine for I learned it in my early years in Southern Baptist Churches. Later, in my journey, while seeking spiritual truths, I became a wife, a mother, a nurse, a grandmother, and finally a Lay Dominican at St. Peter Catholic Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During my life’s journey, I have had the blessing of caring for thousands of little children and with them, I have learned what our Lord Jesus Christ says about peace, unity, and sanctity; it seems to me, Jesus is saying, it is the “little children” who do the guiding.

When American Baptist Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered on April 4, 1968, I was shocked and horrified. Being 24 years old, I suffered the loss of dear friendships with several people I worked with at Les Passes Rehabilitation Center for Handicapped Children. We were a dedicated team, working together to help all children. This caused me to ask searing questions: “Why and how did this happen in Memphis, our hometown, of all cities?” Memphis was known back then as “the place of good abode.” No one could give me answers and when I asked my friends from work, in those following weeks after Dr. King’s assassination, my friends would not or could not speak to me or even look me in the eye. They could only cry. Their reactions still haunt and disturb me some days, especially now with the wars in Israel and Palestine and the entire Middle East, and when I read the chilling stories of the horrifically tragic plight of so many of our cities’ and world’s young people. Now, at last, I do sense a change is coming. And it is Hope. Divine Providence always follows tragedies. Resurrections do occur and it is through the prayers and the good works of people that human sanctification shows up in unexpected places. 

Memphis, Tennessee IS “A Place of Good Abode” with thousands and thousands of compassionate people from different churches, faiths, denominations, and from all walks of life. We have so many charities and nonprofits from which to volunteer or support. Here are only a few: our Catholic Charities, our Youth Villages, our Street ministries, our Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Midsouth which my own father was a volunteer (but sadly has been discontinued), our St Jude Children's Hospital, our Regional One Sheldon B. Korones New Born Center, our Church Health Center, our Memphis Rox, our Room in the Inn, our St Martin de Porres Shrine, and our Bellevue Baptist’s Arise2Read Literacy Ministry for our Memphis and Shelby Schools, with which my husband Ted and I participate.

“God IS on the Move” despite what we hear and read in the media and now I believe with my whole heart that our city of Memphis is well on its way to being a catalyst for the world, as we work together to “save children, save families, save cities… and help save our world.”

Life has come full circle now and it is a “little child” who does the guiding.