Bro. Mickey McGrath, OSFS
KC
Today's feast snuck up on me. Probably taken by the sun that has finally awakened, or dazed by the carpooling I did this weekend to make it to my family's cabin-opening, up north. During this car trip I was voraciously reading a book called The Help. The story is about "the help" of southern households and their experiences as such, in the midst of the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi. The stories that these domestic workers share are heart-wrenching and heart-warming. I have been delighting in this vivacious cast of characters for the past four days.

I am certain that is why I was so struck when I walked by the Franciscan chapel this morning, by the picture of the Visitation that had been prominently displayed, the Windsock Visitation. it is my favorite depiction of the exchange between Mary and Elizabeth; when Elizabeth's child, John the Baptist leaps within her at the arrival of the Savior in Mary's womb. These two women, though not dressed in the white uniform of The Help, exude the same energy and personality of the spirited lives of the women I have been reading about. Their love for one another is visible.

This deja vu experience stirred questions within me about my own encounters with the Spirit as well as the lines I have drawn in my own life, in the routine and unexpected. I hope for the the stamina to love, tangibly, for the wisdom to recognize the Spirit when it knocks and the courage to open the door when it does.