GRATITUDE FOR SUMMER’S GIFT
“The best kind of giving is thanksgiving.” -G.K. Chesterton
Part of the potency and value of summer is that—as with all good things—it comes to an end. As the summer winds down, we are all given an opportunity to take stock of the experiences that have made up these summer months, relating them to the Lord and sharing them with one another in gratitude.
This summer I felt some real restlessness to get out for a couple of road trips. My early July family trip to a family reunion of my dad’s family in Oklahoma as well as my August wanderings to Ohio, Michigan and Illinois effectively started with putting several random friends and family members on a map and connecting the dots between them! After a few thousand miles of driving, site seeing and visiting with family and friends both new and old, I certainly have a new perspective of gratitude as September begins.
A few highlights:
+ The family trip to Oklahoma included some new discoveries of the gift of family: Servant of God Fr. Emil Kaupan, a holy Korean War chaplain from rural Kansas who is on his path to Beatification and Blessed Fr. Stanley Rother, a missionary priest from Oklahoma who was martyred in Guatemala after an unwillingness to flee for fear. We also met some newly discovered family members and a cousin from Belgium who was visiting the US for the first time for a Veterinary Medicine conference! Later in the summer I was also able to visit the tombs of Blessed Solanus Casey, the holy Capuchin Franciscan friar who is buried in Detroit, and Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen of radio and television fame who is buried in Peoria, IL. In a real and tangible way, the holy men and women of our tradition form part of our family. Of course, I asked their intercession for you and your intentions!
+ I saw several friends from seminary days—both priests and laymen. It was a delight to see them living out their vocations.
+ I listened a good handful of audio books including The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run, Something Other than God, Bandersnatch, Coached by Joan of Arc and Strange New World. I love reading…and listening! I certainly prayed many rosaries on the way as well.
+ I was truly blessed to visit Sylvania, Ohio and the Motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters who for many years lived and served in NE Minneapolis, including at Holy Cross. The main motivation for the visit was that it has been too long since I had seen Sr. Donna and Sr. Benita! Although we have corresponded through the years since their move in summer 2017, we had not yet had an opportunity to visit them in person. The visit included a daily Mass, breakfast, a visit to Sr. Benita’s room and an extended golf-cart tour of the expansive campus and grounds. They send their greetings to you all!
Our first reading talks about perfect gifts coming down from above. This was certainly my experience of the gift of being a priest on the move and of course the gift of coming home again after all the travels were done!
Deo gratias!—Thanks be to God!
Fr. Howe