St Clare provides an astounding reality, a private Adoration chapel set apart from traffic and attendance. I am amazed. It will become a new home, a morning Holy Hour and more. The Eucharist chapel is open during business hours on weekdays, when office staff are present. No one as far as I can witness really participates. There are sliding wooden doors on the monstrance to repose the Eucharist when none accompany. It is so quaint and solitary. I am charmed. Behind me when seated in prayer, a life-sized Mary statue hovers raised upon a pedestal. A routine blossoms, a prayer center exposed. Many thoughts arise, St Joseph leading the way, silence retains expression. A new Parrish will be tried on loosely, discerning through prayer and mass before the opening of the Adoration chapel. I also picked up what I thought was a bulletin, only to be greeted with a newsletter for the Lyndhurst Community Center, a community partnership on aging. I am impressed, relating it to my Hospice work. Their monthly calendar displayed a lunch menu. I made a call and the nutrition director knew exactly what I was up to. He was delighted to invite me to share lunch at the center. It seems for a man of schedule and routine things will work out nicely that I will enjoy lunch at the Lyndhurst center on Monday and Tuesday for a nominal fee, with the splendid bonus of the elderly providing me with company and conversation. My only worry will be that I will have to do all the listening and not much talking. I am getting to understand how the elderly can be. For a New Year celebration on Wednesday immediately after work, I will head out for Massachusetts, bound for the Maronite Monastery. Reflection, a quiet retreat, revitalization, and plenty of driving time eagerly anticipated. A wonderful librarian at the Cleveland downtown library has put together a listening package for my drive time focused upon preparation for my summer vacation to Spain. The woman, a foreign language and literature specialist, invigorating through enthusiasm, picked out Spanish (Castilian) CD courses for training, as well as Spanish audio literature focusing upon children’s story narrated in Castilian. I will also have James Michener’s audio book ‘Iberia’ to provide a historical overview of Spain.
