TELL YOUR STORY

Hi All,

My small prayer group had ordered Bishop Barron's Lenten Gospel Reflections  book to help guide our prayer time and discussions. How could we have possibly predicted any of this? And what this little book would mean to us during this time when we can no longer meet and our Church is shut down? What a God-shot!

In today's reflection, there is a reference to the Book of Kells, which is one of Ireland's most beloved tourist attractions, housed at Trinity College in Dublin. I have been blessed enough to visit there twice!
I thought that this message was so timely and a perfect way to start the blog for today:

"Charles Williams stated that the master idea of Christianity is "coinherence", mutual indwelling.
If you want to see this idea concretely displayed, look to the pages of the Book of Kells, that masterpiece of early Christian illumination. Lines interwoven, designs turning in and around on each other, plays of plants, animals, planets, human beings, angels and saints.

"Almost exclusively through the naming of relationships we are sons, brothers, daughters, mothers, fathers, members of organizations, members of a Church, etc. We might want to be alone, but no one and nothing is finally an island. Coinherence is indeed the name of the game, at all levels of reality."

This short description of the Book of Kells explains the significance of this sacred artifact:

"The manuscript’s celebrity derives largely from the impact of its lavish decoration, the extent and artistry of which is incomparable. Abstract decoration and images of plant, animal and human ornament punctuate the text with the aim of glorifying Jesus’ life and message, and keeping his attributes and symbols constantly in the eye of the reader."

Luke had an amazing FACEBOOK post yesterday! I really connected to this part of what he wrote:

"Although today the disruption to our daily lives is more extreme, and the situation more dire, the lessons from 1958 still hold true: tell your story; connect with your customers; innovate; and practice empathy...The good news is that we will emerge from this crisis more prepared, more empathic, and stronger."

The social impact of the H2N2 virus in 1957-58

With Connecting Loves,
Reenie

Odds and Ends:
Wow! We have 9 birthdays in April so far! Check each day to find out whose birthday it is! Gotcha... you have to come back!

Welcome to Terris and Stephen Murphy, Claudia Grillo (soon to be Mrs. Luke Murphy) to the family label... the group of family members that receive the updated email postings.  I am adding names to the family group as I get them, and of course, with their permission... it's growing!

Dan did some research on the poem that Mary Kelly loved... and here we thought she wrote it! LOL!! But he added some other fun facts:
Dan said...
The poem is by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, a contemporary of Mary's. Here is Ella's wikipedia site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Wheeler_Wilcox

There are readings of the poem on YouTube. I like this reading by James Kingdon because of his accent:
https://youtu.be/9wz9mvQm2HQ

and this one because of the imagery:
https://youtu.be/Tm_FsXjCusY

The wikipedia site says Ella has a plaque in an alley in San Francisco, named after the beat writer Jack Kerouac. If you visit us in the Bay Area, let's go exploring for it!