The news of the Parkland, Florida, shooting stunned me and has left me somewhat speechless. How could this happen again in our “civilized” society? In our schools? So many young people! And teachers and staff. So much loss. So much hurt.
Since that day, I have been impressed and deeply moved by the commitment and cogent words, the poise, presence and pain of the young people who have taken to the streets and to the halls of governmental power. They are on the march and we adults had better stand up or step aside.
One morning last week I watched a handsome and brawny hawk make its way across Neck Road onto the branch of a naked maple tree. The hawk stared deliberately and intensely at me as I drove to my ministry at Mercy by the Sea. I have noticed lately an increase in the number of hawks soaring along Neck Road making their way to a tree home. In reflecting on this, I noted that with the sparse foliage at this time of the year, more is visible to us, and the number of hawks may not have increased at all, just my ability to see them. I realized that in winter we see more clearly and more deeply into the woods and into the world around us. We tend to hunker down in winter, look inside ourselves, and wait longingly for spring. As we do so, what was not clear to us before becomes clear — or, at least, clearer. This, I think, is the gift of winter.
A critical concern of the Sisters of Mercy is “to stand in solidarity with immigrants and to address policies that push people to flee their countries.” This commitment is what motivated me to invite Mary Lesser to share her “Immigrant Journals” exhibit in our art gallery. I thought the exhibit would also be thought-provoking in light of the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee rhetoric and policies that are being activated in our country.
As a daughter of Irish immigrants, I can see myself in some of Mary’s haunting photos.
As I look at spring emerging after the winter—the daffodils smiling from the overgrowth, the crocuses strong and sturdy, the renewed sense of energy all around—I am aware again that resurrection is an integral part of life. Poet and educator Kay Ryan writes that “Nothing is exempt from Resurrection!”
