WASTING AWAY WITH THE SAINTS!

This weekend I joined a webinar on Not Being Perfect.  It was perfect for me!

I'm sure it was for everyone there.

We are living in imperfect, sad, even dire times. Covid is raging in my city of Toronto. Hospitals are overwhelmed.  There is so much uncertainty, anxiety, anger, and fear.  
People are on edge.  Things are looking dark. 

But what if this is the exact right time for imperfect people to shine!

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (John 1:5).

Back to the webinar....
 
The guest speaker I was most interested in hearing this past weekend was the author of the wonderful book, "My Sisters the Saints".  All the panellists were wonderful, but this book and I have a long HISTORY.  We have literally "travelled" together!
 
Let me explain...
 
The book, "My Sisters the Saints" was recommended to me by the first (but not LAST!) Sister of Life I would meet.  Was around 2011-2012 I think?
 
Back then, I was still looking at Religious Life.  My pastor at the time had suggested I look at the Sisters of Life.  I did.  Our meeting was just a few days before I was going on vacation to Mexico.  It wasn't so much a vacation I was taking, but a pilgrimage I was making.  But that's for another post.

I remember being intrigued when I discovered the author had been a speechwriter like me.  I once wrote for government officials in Ontario; the author of "My Sisters the Saints" had been a presidential speechwriter.  None-the-less it still felt like a connection. 

The speech writing connection was enough to open my mind just enough to want to read the story of a woman who had written for George Bush.  At the time I thought of myself as a Liberal (big and small L). My dilemma was and remains that my most important values are both liberal, and conservative.
 
Enough politics, back to Mexico.  
 
I was travelling alone on this vacation / pilgrimage back in 2011-12. When at a quiet grace-filled moment I just had this warm gentle feeling that I wasn't alone on this trip at all.  I was travelling with a group; my sisters the saints!  I'm very serious-- I didn't feel one bit alone after that. 
 
While reading "My Sisters the Saints" on the beach, and by the pool, people would often stop to ask me what I was reading?  It was the word SAINTS that caught their attention they told me.  Keep in mind I was staying at a "party resort" reading a book about the saints!  It drew some attention!

When my vacation was ending, I decided to leave "My Sisters the Saints" in the resort's lobby book exchange library (which mostly contained romance novels and murder mysteries).  My hope was the book would find its way to the next person who needed it.  
 
I sometimes wonder if that book is still making the rounds down there???

(Which is why I can't resist including the song below for this post! ).

Cb

Searching for my lost sisters (and brothers) the saints!
 

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