Deacon John Writes

Deacon John Writes:

Fr Rory wrote a few weeks ago about two deaths that had occurred recently in our communities. The following are two articles which are about how we might cope with tragedies in our own families. I hope you find them helpful and give food for thought: The first is Sister Joan Chittister’s response to a reporter who asked her how she kept going after her family tragedy: “Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? Mourning what we have lost in life only obscures the beauty of what remains.” Sr.Joan is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author and speaker. She has served as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

On the same theme, the Right Reverend Monsignor Roderick Strange, a Visiting Professor at St Mary’s University, having previously been rector of the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, wrote: “We never get over the wounds we have received; our defeats are always defeats. However, if we allow ourselves to become completely absorbed in our own misfortune, if we cut ourselves off, then the defeat creates a crippling selfishness, and is death-dealing indeed. But if we resist the whirlpool of selfishness, and turn outwards, determined to show care and generosity and love where it is needed, if we keep our hearts open, then the transforming change can and will take place.”