Be Not Afraid

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." This is from the Gospel today. Fr. Bernie spoke about --Be Not Afraid-- and what that means in our daily lives. Of course, I've heard reference to this many many times (including the song at the funeral) over the last 7 weeks and contemplate it often, along with last weeks sermon about having *a mission*...which Fr. Bernie also mentioned last night. BTW, last nights 5:15 mass intentions included one for Christine...C and I held hands at that moment and just cried...so damn hard!!!!! Special thanks to Lill, Tess and Scott for joining us last night...I do know that you all hurt as much as we do.

Anyway, after I met with Fr. Mick yesterday a.m., where he did a lot of listening to me for an hour and a half--thanks, I came away with a few new insights into these issues, though we may not have mentioned them directly. Mick did speak of keeping our marriage in a good place and quoted high statistics about families that break up after a loss like this...C and I are always close, weather we talk about it much or not, and have had some not so pretty arguemnts, so I do see a need to refocus our communication...(and thank you Chris for asking about this too last night). It's weird to me that similar themes keep popping up here and there. Gotta mean something. I mentioned to Mick about hearing the Lord, at every mass, talking right to me about these many issues and he stated that if we listen he's always talking to us. I intend to blog a bit more about *mission*, not certain what it means to me today, but will contemplate further.

Regarding *be not afraid*, Mick mentioned that the Lord is indeed in each and every person around my family at this time...helping us cope, providing great support and just plain being there to listen to us...God only knows when true peace will come, but my ears are open and I'm listening...trying *not to be afraid* of what my/our new mission is and what the furure holds.

Lord, please help us find our way.