Martin Luther King Day - a national holiday

The earthquake in Haiti is what the media is occupied with and, indeed, all of us are watching and feeling the pain of those who have lost family members or who are in anguish because they are here and can get no news of their families. So many are without water, food, shelter and the death toll keeps mounting. I cannot even imagine trying to bury 70,000! And now the government needs to move them out of the ruins of the city and how hard it must be for those who have nothing and need to leave the very place they have known all their lives. My heart is full of their sufferings and I know from my own experience with earthquakes in Chile that this will take years to get over but the next months are hard without homes, water, light...
The meeting of RSCJS from our Quad Area and some of our Associates in Houston was inspiring and very life-giving for me. We all share our lives and the important events of the past year and often these events have affected our inner lives deeply and we trust one another enough to share what the Lord has been doing in each of us. We also had time for two panels on our Constitutions; this was followed by personal reflection and sharing. We had a beautiful liturgy and five of us renewed our vows made fifty years ago in our final profession ceremony in Rome (I was one of these) and another renewed her vows from the time of her first vows fifty years ago. One of ours gave a very moving homily. We need to encourage one another as we all have gifts and the gifts the Spirit gives us today are what we need for our times. It was just a wonderful week end and I am filled with gratitude and joy to be a Religious of the Sacred Heart.