Tuesday, March 16, 2021

One of the joys -- if you can call it that – is finding out what happened yesterday, the day after.  Of course, the internet is always on, but for work, not for learning about the world around you.  The NJ Spotlight, a nonprofit news organization, much like the Connecticut Mirror and MassLive, reported on the visit of First Lady Jill Biden focusing on the benefits to education in American Rescue Plan passed by Congress.

Although much of the news has been about stimulus checks, much of the Act is about education, providing support for remote learning equipment and for supplies our health care workers desperately need.  Remember those stories about nurses wearing those disposable masks like they were grandma’s heirlooms?

Even as we look toward recovery, large numbers of people are still being hospitalized and far too many are dying, leaving holes in families that cannot be filled.  It’s not easy, in fact, difficult to explain why daddy’s not coming home to a four-year-old, especially when we don’t understand it ourselves.

Prayer for the Day

As we look to the coming spring and its promise of new life,

   Let us not forget those still caught in the winter of grief, O God;

As we breathe in the sun and increasing light offering hope,

   Let us not forget those still needing our compassion, O Holy One.

Enlarge our hearts beyond our own needs and concerns,

   So we reflect the care of the One we follow,

      Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Thoughts for the Day

We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

            Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters from Prison, anti-Nazi activist (1906-1945)

The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering

            Goldie Hawn, American actress

Incline your ear, O Lord, answer me for low and needy am I,

   Guard my life for I am faithful; rescue your servant who trusts in you, my God.

Grant grace to me, Master, for to you I call all day long..

   For you are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call on you.

            Psalm 86: 1-3 (Tr. Robert Alter)