Ordain
Journeys have a way of creating moments of opportunity, and for twenty years in my travels I have rarely been disappointed. Dismayed, perhaps—alarmed, even—but I more often walk away with a perspective I didn’t see coming, and this typically is anything but disappointing. In spite of my anxiety about packing (especially for three) I am learning my modus operandi is to pack little things as I go along, physical ones and then mental ones, things to trigger or surface memory at a later time. On this last trip I have too many of these little things to mention in this short space, but perhaps a couple stand out worth sharing. Of course one has to do with my brother’s ordination as a Conventual Franciscan friar, an event which gives me much hope. To see the young submit themselves to a greater cause and do real work and sacrifice in a real way should be a source of hope for many, and an inspiration to pick up and do our own parts, to be sure. That by itself is meaningful. During the ...