The following post was written by Aimée O’Connell, founder of the Mission of Saint Thorlak – which is now found at autismconsecrated.com. I am also very involved with that website. It seeks to support ministry both by and for autistic people, guided by the Way of Saint Thorlak. Please feel free to browse that site. I offer this post here because I believe it will be encouraging for autistic people who follow my blog. I hope it may be enlightening for people who seek to understand and love their autistic sisters and brothers. Continue reading “Autism in the Pandemic: When We Don’t Conform”
Palm Sunday
Recently, the Catholic News Agency ran this article which featured a Maine parish and its pastor. The gist of the article was this: because we cannot distribute blessed palms to the faithful on Palm Sunday, the pastor of that parish suggested that people obtain pine branches instead and call it “Pine Sunday”. This idea generated several responses in my own mind, and also helped me focus on a theme for this reflection on Palm Sunday. Continue reading “Palm Sunday”
The COVID-19 Zone
Or
How We Learn To Stop Worrying and Surrender to Love
We are about to begin Holy Week.
April is Autism Awareness Month.
We are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three realities converge for us now. What do they have to do with one another? Nothing… and everything. The pandemic, and our responses to it, have brought us to a crisis moment as the People of God. There is hope on the horizon – an immense, brilliant hope, hidden in Christ but offered to us now. Before we can perceive this hope, we must acknowledge our situation as it is. This will be very difficult for many. It entails seeing things in a manner differently than the world as a whole sees things. That is why we need to look to autistic people – people who habitually see things differently; people who are not fooled by ‘spin’ – as an example of what this means and how it can work. It is the hour when people who appear to be of no use – such as autistic people and contemplatives – may have something valuable to share with everyone else.
Let us begin. Continue reading “The COVID-19 Zone”