Stormy Weather Soon Passes

In Miami, a thunderstorm is followed by such a hot sun breaking through the clouds that the puddles of water are soon no more and one forgets the storm. I suspect the same often happens in our interior life; let the love of God shine out and the storm seems to have been a thing of no consequence even if our soul was torn and troubled only a short time before the sun appeared. I remember my mother in winter sighing for sunshine; she said that it gave her life. I think the Son of God gives us life and is always with us, even if there seem to be clouds hiding the sun. His love penetrates and brings peace. (I do not know where these thoughts came from but this picture chose itself and I never know what I am going to write when I sit down to do so.)

What I really wanted to share with you today is a new absence and therefore another two week vacation from my blog. I leave tomorrow early for St. Louis for a week in a cottage lent to me (one that the Society of the Sacred Heart uses behind our school for meetings and retreats) and which I will be sharing with some of my college classmates who were in the group of us who went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans as Freshmen way back in 1949! We are having our 60th reunion as the alumni week end at Maryville begins on Friday. Several of us are arriving on Wednesday and having a reunion with some in St. Louis on Thursday just to be together and share. A couple of us will be in the cottage until Wednesday and then I will go to one of our communities and have another week in St. Louis to work in the archives.
In the meantime, please do check the Concord Pastor's blog and click on the Bible to read the different commentaries to prepare for next Sunday's liturgy. I just read them and hope you do not miss John Kavanaugh's.
I count on your prayer for these two weeks and will be back blogging after October 10. It just does not work for me to write a blog when I am away from home. However, I will be keeping my gratitude journal and hope you will be keeping one, too. One suggestion is to just sit quietly and say over and over, "Thank you, Jesus" and let this be said from your heart. Try it!