By Sister Mary Clare, O.C.D.

It was an ordinary morning that was not so ordinary.  This is what I mean … I woke up with the same weekday routine of getting out of bed, morning prayers and the usual self-talk that if nothing else went right today, at least I had made it thus far without a glitch.  Then on my way to Mass I noticed a little commotion out of the corner of my eye.  One of our beloved Residents from our Assisted Living, I will call her Pearl, was in the distance groping a care-giver as she maneuvered herself with great difficulty to sit on the seat of her walker.  I saw she was in capable hands and continued on to Mass so as not to be late.  After the Liturgy I lingered a bit behind the rest of the crowd to pray and as I was leaving I met  Pearl in the vestibule.  Struggling with Parkinson’s, we had a brief chat that today was not such a good day in getting her legs to obey her brain, or as she joked, getting her brain to work her legs!  I offered to wheel her back to Good Shepherd Cottage and we chatted along the way.  With labored words Pearl was able to communicate her temptation to give in to frustration with a disease that seemed to rob her of every capability she had previously been very gifted with.  By the time we reached the Cottage it was evident that her determined spirit had overcome that temptation and she got herself up out of the walker and with peaceful focus began to make her way walking to her room.  I realized with great admiration that my little self-talk and daily challenges were nothing compared to what this Giant of Inspiration had shown me … a well-spring of grace that I live next to every day.  May you all find such inspiration in the not-so-ordinary of your ordinary everyday lives!