God of All Encouragement

​Dear Newman Community,
 
This past weekend a group of students and I visited Casa del Sol nursing home as part of our Service Saturday series. From the outside, it may have seemed like something fairly inconsequential– a group of college students spent an hour talking with and manicuring the nails of a handful of elderly residents. But when we look a little closer, as our group did in discussion after our visit, I think we see something really incredible– real life examples and experiences of what Pope Francis refers to as accompaniment.
 
Greta, the weekend activities staff person, accompanies the residents on a daily basis. She does things like roll their wheel chairs in and out of rooms, bring them glasses of juice, and coordinate BINGO games. When we arrived, she introduced us to residents by name, sharing about their particulars, their quirks, likes and dislikes. One of these residents was Rosie, who accompanies her fellow residents. Greta described how Rosie is the community “cheerleader,” encouraging and comforting those who are down. Within a few minutes of meeting her, it was clear she was probably great in this role. She has a generous, infectious smile and quick sense of humor!
 
Before our visit, our group had gathered at Casa Amistad for prayer. The Scripture we had reflected on was 2 Cor 1:3-7 (at right). We had gone into the visit with the hope that we would do the encouraging, and perhaps we did, in some small way, but I wonder at and give thanks for the examples of encouragement we were privileged to witness in Greta and Rosie. Their examples were not big things, but small things with great love. I invite us to pray and work toward being such examples!
 
Peace,
Mona
 
 

Blessed be…
the Father of compassion and
God of all encouragement,
who encourages us
in our every affliction,
so that we may be able
to encourage those
who are in any affliction with
the encouragement
with which we ourselves
are encouraged by God.
For as Christ’s sufferings
overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow…
Our hope for you is firm,
for we know that as
you share in the sufferings,
you also share in
the encouragement.
 
2 Corinthians 1:3-7

“Not all of us can do great things.
But we can do small things
with great love.”
​
― Mother Teresa