Hello. You’re pretty sure you don’t know me — I don’t blame you. We haven’t talked in a while. But I thought I might as well send you this.
We used to be best friends when you were younger — remember that? No, I don’t expect you to. But maybe you remember a little bit. You had all those imaginary friends? All those make-believe worlds? All those fanciful lives you loved to pretend you had? I was all those friends. I took you to all those worlds. I showed you all those lives.
Remember when your parents took off your training wheels? Remember how unsteady you felt, but how you somehow managed to stay up? That was me. I held you better than any training wheels could.
And then when you got old enough to walk around the streets by yourself — you were never by yourself. But it was around that time that you started forgetting about those imaginary friends. You started settling for the life you were given instead of pushing out of it to what might be. That’s when you started to forget me. . .
I’ve been working overtime since then. Why don’t you sleep as much as you used to? When you were sleeping, there was less to worry about. Now I have to be behind every wheel wheel, in all the stores, at all the friends’ houses, around all the TV’s, between every hand you hold, nearly every hour of the day. There are a million perils I’ve helped you avoid and you don’t even know it.
Other people recognize me more than you do, and I’m not even focusing on them. I guess they see the effects. You and that one “friend?” — everyone but you realizes that I’m the only one that’s prevented you from going out with each other. How that wreck was somehow not your fault? — you’re the only person who doesn’t see my hand in that.
I can’t honestly blame you for a lot of your attitude, though. You must find it hard to see someone who, honestly, can’t be seen without years of practice. But I encourage you — be like those other people who see what I’ve done. Accept that there’s someone there working on your side all the time.
And see me in other people. I said I don’t particularly focus on others, but sometimes they help me work a lot better than I can on my own. Because, you see, you listen to people who look like you. That one friend who’s advice stuck in your mind for some bizarre reason? I bet you can guess who told him to say that. Or that driver who slammed on her breaks with inhuman strength and speed so you could safely run that red light? Yes, I had a hand in that.
I love you. You’re worth all the effort. You’re worth all the trying and failing. You’re worth all the headache and heartache. Because I see something absolutely beautiful — something precious, something that deserves to be guarded by one of the strongest forces on earth.
Everyone needs a guardian. Call it a rule of thumb. Call it a necessity. Personally, I prefer to call it a principle.
I have a name, but I’d be happy if all you ever remembered was,
We were able to collect over 800 pairs of baby shoes and over 1,000 pairs of adult shoes, totaling almost 2,000 pairs in less than three months!
WaterStep was very thankful for your donations and the kids had a blast counting and collecting the shoes. The pregnancy centers throughout the area will also benefit greatly from the donations so thank you all! Our display got rained out early during spring break, but we’ve learned a LOT of lessons from this effort and we hope to organize things to be even more effective next year.
Just a reminder that we’re going to be watching The Passion of the Christ tonight at St. Luke’s. The showing will begin right after Holy Thursday Mass, which starts at 7pm. We will be watching the movie in the church, and there will be Eucharistic Adoration in the adjacent Mercy Chapel at the same time.
What’s special about April 9, 2017? Oh, right — it was Palm Sunday. It was the beginning of the holiest week in the church year. It was (this day in history) but was there anything, anything else important about that day?
Of course. It was the 152nd anniversary of Lee’s surrender in the Civil War. It’s the 136th anniversary of Billy the Kid being convicted of murder. It’s the eighth commemoration of Honda winning the Green Car Award in 2009. Could there possibly be another special occasion on that day, though?
You bet.
April 9, 2017, was the day on which thirteen people in Okolona, Ky, commemorated Ms. Rita Appreciation Day for the first time ever.
Ms. Rita Bernauer is the sacristan at St. Rita’s where we have youth Mass. It was Ms. Rita who taught Michael Schultz how to play organ. It was Ms. Rita who took over piano and organ when he left for seminary. And it’s Ms. Rita who comes hours early every Sunday in order to prepare the altar for Mass, turn on the lights and sound, say a Rosary, and be there to welcome us all when we come. She’s there no matter what. Are John and Michael in Poland? Is the entire choir gone on a pilgrimage? Did her cousin just pass away? — She’s still there. And in addition to all that (as if it wasn’t enough already) she’s always got a smile on her face. She might be stressed about finding us palms to have blessed, she might be in grief, or any other number of things, but she always wants to be there and talk to you. In the words of several choir members, “she’s the glue that holds us all together.”
Ms. Rita Day was Holly Ray’s idea. One Sunday, she said, “we all need to show Ms. Rita how much we love her.” And this was the idea borne.
They were small gifts – a box with jewelry, chocolates, a Rosary holder, and an icon of St. Rita, a card, and a little planter of spring flowers. We hid them on the steps to the choir loft.
After Mass, most of the choir took Ms. Rita back to pray in the sacristy – something the choir’s been doing for a while now. John and I ran back to the choir loft and got intercepted by Mary P’Oryem, who needed her daily hug. She got conscripted into carrying the flowers. All our rushing attracted Olivia Ulrch and Matthew Flaherty, who followed us into the Adoration chapel.
“What’s with all the rush?”
“Shhhhh! It’s Ms. Rita Day!”
“Why are they praying for so long?”
“Go go go go go!!!!”
“Actually, Ms. Rita, Zoe and John left to get something. I don’t think you know, but today is Ms. Rita Appreciation Day, and we just wanted to give you a little something to show you how much we love you.”
“What did I do?”
This one reply, repeated at least three times, sums it up best: “what didn’t you do?”
The Circle of Life 