Page 3 - LOTN Issue 45

DIOCESE

A Letter from

Bishop Hugh Gilbert O.S.B.

Dear Friends and Readers, courtesy hold great power. Attentiveness, a nod, a smile,
a wave, a small gift, a call to those alone, a “How are you
Isn’t it wearing? And we all know what “it” is. On and on it keeping?” We’ll miss opportunities by the thousand, we’ll
goes, always changing and yet somehow never changing. be dour and self-preoccupied; but we needn’t be always. I
Perhaps by the time we’ve read the Light of the North, was walking a street the other night and a passing, angry
Sister Vaccine will be in town. But then again, perhaps not. woman saw my mask and blew into my face; but we can
And even if she is… do otherwise. “Kindness ought to be cultivated”, the Pope
Then there’s Christmas. has said, “it is no superficial bourgeois virtue”. In his Diary,
This is a time we need to be intentional about our physical, the Russian novelist Dostoevsky advocated “microscopic
mental and spiritual health, our own and others'. There is actions” – no mean counter-attack to a microscopic virus. In
a sense of things fraying socially, tempers too, and spirits one of his novels, a character says, “You know it’s a matter of a
drooping. We miss the usual flow of whole life-time, an infinite multitude
Church life as well. There seem to be of ramifications hidden from us…In
“road-blocks” everywhere. How can scattering the seed, scattering your
we respond? How prepare for a better ...Similarly, to darn the tears in our charity, your kind deeds, you are
tomorrow, and sow for a harvest? social fabric, to taste the good wine giving away, in one form or another,
When the people of Israel had of each day, to carry one another’s part of your personality, and taking
returned to their Land after the burdens, to create the “social into yourself part of another…all
devastation of the Exile, Zerubbabel friendship” Pope Francis calls for, to the seeds scattered by you, perhaps
their leader laid the foundation stone alleviate isolation, and to change the forgotten by you, will grow up and
of the new Temple. It was a small atmosphere, small acts of kindness take form. He who has received
gesture. And the prophet Zechariah and courtesy hold great power. them from you will hand them on
commented, “A day of little things, no to another. And how can you tell
doubt, but who would dare despise what part you may have in the future
it?” (Zech 4:10; NJB). Out of this “day determination of human destinies?”
of little things”, “the day of small And then there’s Christmas. It is
beginnings” (NVg), will come great the ultimate “day of small things”.
things: no mere, single stone but a glowing new Temple. The What is good for us to do, God has done first. He has laid
gurus of physical and mental well-being often recommend the foundation of a tiny baby, one among the billions.
simple fidelity to wholesome daily practices, not necessarily He has sown the small seed. Who saw it? Angels aside, a
dramatic. So do the spiritual masters: a simple, not overly- handful of simple people and some scientists from the
demanding pattern of daily prayer, for example, can over East. But “who would dare despise it?” Out of the almost
time lead to real familiarity with God. Similarly, to darn the unnoticed “kindness … of our God” (Titus 3:4) has sprung
tears in our social fabric, to taste the good wine of each and continues to spring…well, no small thing.
day, to carry one another’s burdens, to create the “social Every blessing,
friendship” Pope Francis calls for, to alleviate isolation, and Bishop Hugh OSB
to change the atmosphere, small acts of kindness and

Is the Pope a Catholic?

In this video talk on Pope
Francis, Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB
to lead the Church, a man with a
considers the man called by God

strong personal relationship to
Christ but a man often misread on
both the left and the right. Part 1 Part 2

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